^f 


FROM   THE  LIBRARY  OF 


REV.   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.  D.  D. 


BEQUEATHED   BY   HIM   TO 

THE  LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


^: 


:■■«» 


^*:^*^>^S?^_^^ 


In  1894,  Dr.  Good  issued  a  History  of  the  Reformed  Church 
of  Germany,  1620-1890,  which  presented  in  a  single  volume 
the  record  of  the  varying  fortunes  of  the  Reformed  Church  in 
the  Fatherland.    It  showed  the  awful  persecutions  which  the 
Reformed  Church  had  to  endure  as  well  as  its  gradual  spread 
and  increase  in  influence.    It  was  a  notable  contribution  which 
gave  a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  Reformed  Church  in        t 
Germany.    Some  of  his  critics  fornid  fault  with  him  for  writ-        \ 
ing  this  history  from  a  partisan  standpoint.    Yet  it  should  be        ^ 
remembered  that  in  this  book  Dr.  Good  defended  a  thesis        * 
which  is  now  generally  accepted  as  correct,  namely,  that  the        j^ 
Reformed  Church  of  Germany  was  neither  Melanchthonian  in       n. 
doctrine  nor  ritualistic  in  worship,  as  was  at  that  time  gener- 
ally believed  in  this  country.    The  Church  must  be  grateful 
to  the  author  for  having  contributed  to  a  correct  understand- 
ing of  Reformed  history. 


^- 


MAPo 

inthe  12' 


J.Z.  Sm£d^  2/  S.  Sza^  J?.  J^/uZa^7/:>/i:zki 


HISTOR 


OF  THE 


REFORMED  CHURCH 


OF 


GERMANY. 


1620—1890. 


BY      // 

EEV.  JAMES  I.  GOOD,  D.  B., 

Author  of  the  ''Origin  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  Germany"  and  "Rambles 
Round  Reformed  Lands.'" 


READING,  PA.: 

DANIEL  MILLER,  PUBLISHER. 

1894. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1894, 

BY  REV.  JAMES  I.  GOOD,  D.  D., 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


TO   THE   MEMORY   OF 


MY   UNCLE. 


EEV.    PROFESSOR   JEREMIAH   HAAK   GOOD, 


PROFESSOR   OF    DOGMATICS 


IN    HEIDELBERG   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY, 


TIFFIN,  0., 


THIS    BOOK    IS    DEDICATED. 


He  gave  me  the  first  directions  how  to  study  Reformed  Church 
history,  and  my  theological  views  were  in  perfect  harmony  with 
his  on  the  historic  position  of  the  Reformed  Church.  In  recog- 
nition of  his  kindly  influence  and  useful  labors,  this  book  aims 
to  perpetuate  his  memory. 


PREFACE. 


The  Reformed  Church  has  a  history  which  deserves 
to  be  known,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  her  children  to  tell  it 
to  the  world.  This  book  is  a  continuation  of  The  Orif/hi 
of  the  Reformed  Church  in  Germany  and  brings  the  history 
of  that  Church  down  to  the  present  time.  It  will  supply 
a  great  want,  for  no  hook  has  existed  in  English  vvhich 
covers  this  perioa  or  showed  why  the  founders  of  the 
Reformed  Church  in  the  United  States  emigrated  to  this 
western  world.  Indeed,  there  is  no  single  book  in  Ger- 
man which  covers  this  ground,  as  the  Reformed  histories 
in  Germany  are  local.  This  is  the  first  attempt  to  com- 
prehend and  systematize  all  the  Reformed  Church  history 
of  Germany.  We  trust  that  this  contribution  to  Church 
history  will  be  a  great  aid  to  the  Reformed  everywhere 
(especially  in  the  United  States),  and  of  interest  to  all 
students  of  Church  history  of  other  denominations.  The 
author  wishes  to  say  that  he  has  had  great  difficulty  with 
some  of  the  German  proper  names,  as  two  forms  of  the 
same  name  are  often  given  by  good  authorities,  as  Kirch - 
meyer  (Kirchmeier),  Strassburg  (Strasburg),  Wyttenbach 
(AVittenbach),  etc.  Also  in  the  dates  of  the  days  of  the 
Thirty  Years'  War  he  has  found  diffigrences  existing 
between  good  authorities,  owing,  perhaps,  to  the  change 
that  took  place  at  that  time  from  old  time  to  new. 


6  PEEFACE. 

The  author  wishes  to  express  his  obligations  for  aid  to 
Eev.  F.  Brandes,  of  Buckeburg,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Hapke,  of 
Berlin,  for  aid  on  the  Union  in  Germany ;  to  Rev.  Mr. 
Cuno,  of  Eddighausen,  for  aid  on  the  doctrinal  position 
of  the  Reformed  Church  ;  also  to  Rev.  Prof.  Charles 
Muller,  of  Erlangen ;  Rev.  Charles  KrafPt  and  Rev. 
Charles  Krummacher,  both  of  Elberfeld,  and  Rev.  S. 
Goebel,  consistorialrath  of  Munster.  He  is  also  under 
obligations  to  Rev,  Prof  B.  Warfield,  of  Princeton,  and 
Mr.  Wm.  Hinke,  for  aid  rendered,  and  to  Rev.  Mr.  Dul- 
les, of  Princeton,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Gillett,  of  New  York,  for 
books  loaned  from  Princeton  and  Union  Theological  Semi- 
nary Libraries. 

May  this  book  make  the  Reformed  more  familiar  with 
their  own  Church  history,  and  thus  love  her  more  and 
labor  more  earnestly  for  her  perpetuity.  We  would  echo 
the  wish  of  Court  preacher  Krummacher  on  page  463. 
*^  O  that  the  spirit  of  an  Untereyck  and  a  Tersteegen  would 
come  again,  to  revive  our  Church  by  the  outpouring  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  that  she  may  do  greater  things  for  the 
Lord  in  the  future  than  she  has  done  in  the  past." 


CONTENTS 


Book  I. 

THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

CHAPTER  I.— Introduction Page     9 

CHAPTER  II.— The  Sufferings  of  the  Palatinate 16 

CHAPTER  III.— The  Quartering  in  Nassau 76 

CHAPTER  IV.— The  Bravery  of  Hesse-Cassel 93 

CHAPTER  v.— The  Vacillation  of  Brandenburg 115 

CHAPTER  VL— Summary  and  Results  of  the  War 127 

Book  II. 

THE  FRENCH  REFUGEES.    V 

CHAPTER  I.— The  Great  Elector  and  Electress 1-t-i 

CHAPTER  II.— The  Refugees  in  Brandenburg 173 

CHAPTER  III.— The  Refugees  in  Other  Parts  of  Germany 194 

CHAPTER  IV.— The  Results  of  these  Immigrations 210 

Book  III. 

THE  RAVAGE  OF  THE  PALATINATE. 

CHAPTER  I.— Preparation  for  the  Catastrophe 22& 

CHAPTER  II.— The  Political  Reign  of  Terror 240 

CHAPTER  III.— The  Ecclesiastical  Reign  of  Terror 276 

Book  IY. 

PIETISM. 

CHAPTER   I.— Introduction 307 

CHAPTER  II.— The  Rise  of  Pietism 323 

CHAPTER  III.— The  Victory  of  Pietism 363 

CHAPTER  IV.— The  Effects  of  the  Rise  of  Pietism 396 


o  contexts. 

Book  Y. 

ratioxalism. 

CHAPTER   L— Introduction 411 

CHAPTER   II,— Rationalism  in  the  Reformed  Church 413 

CHAPTER  III.— Official  Answers  to  Rationalism  by  the  Reformed 426 

CHAPTER  IV. — Individual  Answers  to   Rationalism   in    the   Northern 

Rhine 445 

CHAPTER  V. — Individual  Answers  to   Rationalism  in  Other  Parts  of 

Germany 502 

CHAPTER  VI.— The  Mediating  Theology 53O 

Book  YI. 
the  union. 

CHAPTER  L— The  Prussian  Union 560 

CHAPTER  II.— The  Effect  of  the  Union  on  the  Reformed 565 

CHAPTER  III.— The  Revival  of  Reformed  Consciousness 579 

Book  YII. 

conclusion. 

CHAPTER  I.— Statistics  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany 586 

CHAPTER  II.— The  Doctrinal  Position  of  the  German  Reformed  Church  589 


APPENDIX 625 


Illustrations. 

Map. 

Heidelberg  Just  Before  the  Thirty  Years'  War Opposite  page    16 

The  Siege  of  Heidelberg  (1622) "  "  38 

Landgravine  Amalie  Elizabeth  of  Hesse-Cassel "  "  108 

Frederick  William  the'Great,  Elector  of  Brandenburg  "  "  144 

Electress  Louisa  Henrietta  of  Brandenburg "  "  160 

The  Destruction  of  Heidelberg  (1689) "  "  248 

Professor  John  Lewis  Fabricius "  "  258 

St.  Martin's  Church,  Bremen «  "  328 

Joachim  Neander «  «  344 

Professor  Frederick  A.  Lampe "  "  376 

Tersteegen's  House  at  Muhlheim "  «  455 


BOOK    I. 


THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 


CHAPTER  I. 
INTRODUCTION. 

The  Thirty  Years'  War  was  a  remarkable  war. 
Whether  we  consider  the  great  length  of  the  war,  or  its 
awfnl  devastation,  or  its  intricate  diplomacy,  or  the  mag- 
nitude of  its  issues,  each,  or  all  of  them  combined,  make 
it  one  of  the  greatest  wars  of  history.  To  us  it  is,  how- 
ever, only  interesting  for  the  religious  issues  that  were  at 
stake.  And  it  is  especially  interesting  to  the  Reformed, 
because  their  very  existence  depended  on  its  results. 
Three  great  principles  were  involved  in  the  war.  The 
first  was  Protestantism.  The  very  existence  of  Protest- 
antism was  at  stake.  It  was  a  combined  attack  of  the 
Romish  princes  on  the  Protestant  nobles.  Had  they  suc- 
ceeded, they  would  have  oppressed  and  circumscribed  the 
Protestants  more  and  more,  until  they  had  crushed  them 
out  of  existence.  This  plan  is  clearly  seen  in  the  Edict 
of  Restitution,  when  the  Romisli  powers  ordered  the 
Protestants  to  restore  abbeys  and  endowments.     Tliis  was 

9 


10  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMAXY. 

only  the  begiuniug  of  the  encl^  when  they  would  have 
compelled  the  Protestants  to  give  up  everything,  yes  even 
their  very  existence.  Gnstavus  Adolphus  saw  this  dan- 
ger clearly.  He  felt  that  if  the  Romish  powers  had  once 
destroyed  Protestantism  in  Germany,  it  would  not  be 
long  before  they  would  cross  the  Baltic  and  destroy  it  in 
Sweden,  too.  So  he  left  his  land  to  save  Protestantism 
in  another  land.  But  the  result  of  the  war  was  that  it 
guaranteed  the  safety  of  Protestantism.  Since  that  time 
there  has  been  no  combined  attack  of  Romish  powers  on 
Protestants.  Protestantism  was  saved.  A  second  princi- 
ple at  stake  was  religious  liberty.  This  had  been  only  par- 
tially recognized  before  at  the  Peace  of  Augsburg,  1555, 
which  allowed  Protestants  the  privilege  of  existence,  but 
placed  too  much  religious  power  in  the  hands  of  the  prin- 
ces, making  the  prince  the  religious  head  of  the  people, 
and  "  like  prince,  like  people"  became  the  motto.  The 
Protestants  were  fighting  for  more  religious  liberty.  The 
Peace  of  AVestphalia  at  the  close  of  the  war  settled  the 
principle  of  religious  liberty— that  a  man's  faith  did  not 
depend  on  his  prince's  faith,  but  on  his  own  conscience. 
The  Reformed  may  well  be  proud  of  their  record  on  this 
question.  For  the  first  prince  to  declare  for  religious 
liberty,  even  before  the  pilgrims  lauded  at  Plymouth 
Rock,  was  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  who  (1614),  though 
Reformed,  gave  to  his  Lutheran  subjects  religious  lib- 
erty.    At  the  close  of  the  war  the   Reformed  Count  of 


INTRODUCTION.  ]  1 

Wied  (along  the  Rhine)  threw  open  his  territory  to  the 
persecuted  of  all  lands  ;  so  that  in  the  same  year  that  Roger 
Williams  suifered  banishment  from  Massachusetts,  the 
Moravians  founded  a  church  at  Neuwied.  Religious 
liberty  was  one  of  the  greatest  boons  of  the  war.  A  third 
great  issue  of  the  war  was  the  existence  of  the  Reformed 
Church."^  The  defeat  of  Protestantism  would  have  crushed 
the  Reformed  Church.  Its  victory  saved  her.  This  war 
may,  in  a  certain  sense,  be  said  to  hav^e  been  a  "  Reformed 
war.'^  It  is  true  that  a  Lutheran,  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
saved  Germany,  and  so  Lutheranism  became  prominent 
in  the  war.  But  it  is  just  as  true  that  the  war  was 
especially  directed  against  the  Reformed,  and  so  they 
come  out  prominently,  too.  For  it  seemed  as  if  the  Em- 
peror determined  that  if  he  could  not  destroy  Protestant- 
ism, he  would  destroy  its  most  extreme  form,  Calvinism. 
He  dethroned  one  Reformed  prince  after  another  ;  first 
the  Elector  Frederick  of  the  Palatinate  was  put  under 
the  ban  ;  also  Duke  Christian  of  Anhalt  ;  then  Duke 
John  Albert  of  Mecklenburg,  besides  lesser  Reformed 
princes.  He  forced  Landgrave  Maurice  of  Hesse-Cassel 
to  abdicate,  and  afterward  dethroned  Landgrave  William, 
his  son.  He  threatened  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  so 
that  he  trembled  before  Wallenstein  for  fear  his  throne, 
too,  would  be  taken  away.     And  what  lands  did  the  Em- 


*  This  is  a  point  overlooked  by  secular  historians,  but  of  great  importance 
to  us. 


12      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

peror  most  devastate  with  his  armies?  The  beautiful 
Rhine  Palatinate,  the  fertile  counties  of  Nassau  and  the 
rich  lands  of  Cassel — all  Reformed  lands.  This  hatred 
of  the  Reformed  is  farther  shown  at  the  Peace  of  Prague, 
where  Romanists  and  Lutherans  united  in  a  peace  which 
left  the  Reformed  out  entirely. 

But  though  the  war  was  directed  against  the  Re- 
formed, it  resulted  in  their  complete  vindication.  The 
Peace  of  Westphalia  recognized  them.  Before  that  peace 
they  had  had  no  legal  rights  in  Germany.  They  had  not 
been  mentioned  in  the  treaty  of  Augsburg,  1555,  (for  at 
that  time  there  were  hardly  any  Reformed  in  Germany). 
And  as  they  were  not  protected  by  the  Peace  of  Augs- 
burg, they  existed  only  by  right  of  sufferance,  but  they 
were  not  accredited  by  law.  Their  rights  could  be  taken 
away  from  them  at  any  time,  because  they  were  not  pro- 
tected by  law.  But  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  was  the 
first  to  recognize  them  as  a  Church.  It  was  the  first  to 
mention  them  by  name.  And  more  than  that,  it  guaran- 
teed to  them  their  rights.  After  that  they  liad  as  much 
right  to  exist  in  Germany  as  either  the  Lutherans  or  the 
Romanists. 

Into  tlie  labyrinth  of  the  war  we  have  not  time  to 
enter.  Its  campaigns  were  intricate,  and  its  diplomacy 
was  more  intricate.  We  can  only  describe  the  war  as  it 
touched  the  Reformed.  In  secular  history  it  is  usually 
divided   into   three   parts — the   period   before   Gustavus 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

Adolphus,  his  campaigns,  and  the  period  after  his  death. 
But  for  ecclesiastical  history  there  is  a  better  division  : 
I.,  to  the  Edict  of  Restitution  (1629);  II.,  to  the  Peace 
of  Prague  (1635) ;  III.,  to  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  (1648). 
I.  To  the  Edict  of  Restitution  (1618—1629).  These 
were  years  of  continual  victory  for  the  Emperor  ;  until 
flushed  with  his  victories  over  the  Protestants,  he  issued 
an  edict  (March  6,  1629)  which  ordered  that  all  monas- 
teries and  endowments  which  the  Protestants  had  taken 
from  the  Catholics  since  tlie  treaty  of  Passau,  1552,  should 
be  returned  to  them.  "  Thus  by  the  stroke  of  a  pen  he 
undid  the  work  of  a  century."  This  edict  took  away 
many  churches  and  revenues  from  the  Protestants.*  And 
it  not  only  decreased  their  power,  but  increased  that  of 
their  enemies.  For  as  these  properties  were  restored  to 
Romish  bishops,  they  regained  their  seats  in  the  German 
Diet,  and  the  Romish  party  there  was  augmented.  This 
edict  opened  the  eyes  of  the  Protestants  in  Germany. 
They  saw  that  if  the  Emperor  would  take  away  a  part  of 
their  property,  he  would  then  take  away  all  ultimately. 
They  became  so  alarmed  that  they  began  to  combine  to 
oppose  the  Emperor.  This  opposition  became  so  serious 
that  the  Emperor  was  led  to  delay  in  carrying  out  the  edict 
for  a  year.     That  delay  saved  Protestantism.     For  by 

*  After  the  peace,  says  Hausser,  large  territories  belonged  to  the  adherents 
of  the  Reformed  faith  :  the  Electoral  Palatinate,  Hesse-Cassel,  Zweibrucken, 
Cleve,  Berg,  and  the  electoral  line  of  Hohenzollern.  These  territories  were 
deprived  of  their  legal  existence  by  the  last  article  of  this  peace  and  sacrificed 
to  the  unlimited  power  of  the  Catholic  reaction. 


14      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

the  end  of  the  year  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  radically 
changed  the  aspect  of  affairs  by  his  victories.  The  Cath- 
olics had  lost  their  power  and  could  not  carry  out  the 
edict.  Still  it  was  not  repealed  during  the  war,  and  at  any 
time  when  th(^  Protestants  became  helpless,  the  Romish 
Emperor  could  again  enforce  it  against  them. 

II.  The  second  period  was  to  the  Peace  of  Prague 
(^lg29 — 35).  By  the  year  1635  all  parties  had  become 
thoroughly  tired  of  the  war.  The  Romish  princes  sup- 
posed the  Protestants  were  so  wearied  that  they  would  be 
willing  to  compromise  so  as  to  stop  the  war.  They  there- 
fore threw  out  the  bait  to  the  Lutheran  princes  that  they 
should  come  to  a  peace  that  ignored  the  Reformed  Church 
entirely.  The  Peace  of  Prague  differed  from  the  Edict  of 
Restitution,  in  that  it  did  not  order  all  properties  taken 
from  Catholics  before  1552  to  be  returned,  but  changed 
the  normal  year  back  to  1627,  instead  of  1552.  It  also 
lengthened  the  time  for  restoring  these  to  three  quarters 
of  a  century.  The  peace  was  to  last  for  forty  years,  and 
then  measures  were  to  be  taken  to  settle  matters  amica- 
bly. Almost  all  of  the  Protestant  states,  even  the  Re- 
formed, were  so  weary  of  the  war  that  they  accepted  the 
peace.  It  came  very  nearly  closing  the  war.  But  it  did 
not,  because  it  failed  on  two  points — first  of  all  to  guaran- 
tee the  Reformed  their  rights  and  their  position  ;  and  sec- 
ond, it  failed  to  reinstate  the  Reformed  Elector  of  the 
Palatinate  to  his  dominions.     For  the  Reformed  were  too 


-INTRODUCTION.  1 5 

large  and  influential  a  Church  to  be  ignored.  As  a  result 
the  Landgravine  of  Hesse-Cassel  refused  to  sign  the  peace. 
And  finally  the  new  Elector  of  Brandenburg  joined  her 
in  demanding  rights  for  the  Reformed. 

HI.  So  there  was  a  third  period  to  the  war  (1638 — 
1648) — mainly  an  era  of  diplomacy,  rather  than  of  war. 
It  became  evident  that  the  issues  of  the  war  were  too  intri- 
cate to  be  settled  merely  by  blood.  And  so  diplomacv 
came  in  to  cut  the  Gordian  knot.  The  Romish  princes 
by  this  time  realized  that  they  could  not  destroy  Protest- 
antism in  Germany.  And  the  unsatisfactory  results  of 
the  Peace  of  Prague  revealed  that  the  Reformed  Church 
could  not  be  crowded  out.  So  the  Peace  of  Westphalia 
(the  negotiations  lasted  from  1644-48)  closed  the  war. 
The  peace  gave  the  Reformed  recognition  and  guarantee. 
They  were  mentioned  by  name  in  it,  and  from  that  time 
had  legal  standing  in  the  empire.  The  peace  also  declared 
1624  as  the  normal  year,  that  is,  properties  that  were 
Protestant  in  1624  should  be  returned  to  them  if  taken 
away.  This  undid  the  evil  effects  of  the  Emperor's  Edict 
of  Restitution.  The  peace  gave  back  the  Palatinate  to 
Elector  Frederick's  heirs,  and  also  separated  Switzerland 
from  Germany,  so  that  the  Emperor  had  no  control  over 
that  republic.  This  brief  summary  shows  how  vitally 
this  war  touched  the  Reformed. 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE  SUFFERINGS  OF  THE  PALATINATE, 


SECTIOX  I. 
THE  WAR  IN  BOHEMIA. 

The  beautiful  Rhine  Palatinate  was  one  of  the  most 
powerful  states  in  the  German  empire.  But  alas  its 
prince  was  not  as  great  as  his  land.  Elector  Frederick  Y., 
though  possessed  of  many  amiable  qualities,  was  not  the 
man  of  wisdom  and  action  needed  for  those  troublous 
times.  Although  head  of  the  Protestant  Union  (a  league 
of  Lutheran  and  Reformed  states  of  Germany  founded  by 
his  father),  he  soon  revealed  his  lack  of  leadership.  He 
was  elected  King  of  Bohemia  August  26,  1619.  Two 
days  later  his  rival  to  that  throne,  Archduke  Ferdinand, 
of  Austria,  was  elected  Emperor  of  Germany.  This 
placed  Frederick  in  a  very  awkward  position.  For  it 
was  a  question  whether,  if  he  became  King  of  Bohemia, 
he  was  not  a  rebel  against  his  Emperor  as  well  as  his  rival 
to  the  Bohemian  throne.  It  was  also  very  evident  that  if 
Frederick  accepted  that  throne,  there  would  be  war.  For 
Ferdinand  was  not  the  man  to  give  up  his  claim  to  the 
Bohemian  throne  without  a  struggle.     And  the  Catholic 


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Frederick's  indecision.  17 

• 
League   of  Germany  would  support    Ferdinand  against 

Frederick  in  a  war,  because  Frederick's  election  would 
give  a  majority  in  the  electoral  college  to  the  Protestants. 
There  were  seven  Electors,  and  twice  before,  when  the 
Protestants  had  gained  the  fourth  Elector,  and  thus  had 
the  majority,  force  had  been  used  to  deprive  the  Prot- 
estants of  that  electorate,  and  it  would  be  done  again.  The 
•Catholics  were  not  willing  to  give  up  the  majority  of 
Electors  in  Germany  without  a  struggle.  In  view  of  these 
•difficulties  it  is  no  wonder  that  Frederick  was  undecided 
whether  to  accept  the  Bohemian  throne  or  not.  Older 
;and  wiser  heads  would  have  hesitated  more  than  he  did. 

And  yet  there  were  also  inducements  why  he  should 
.•accept.  Just  then  it  looked  as  if  Austria  were  falling 
away  from  Ferdinand  and  Romanism.  In  Bohemia  and 
Silesia  hardly  one-thirteenth  of  the  population  were  Cath- 
olics. Bethlen  Gabor  in  Hungary  had  become  Reformed. 
At  the  Diet  of  Neusohl,  May  1,  1820,  Ferdinand's  depo- 
sition was  talked  of,  and  if  so,  Frederick  would  have 
become  King  of  Hungary.  It  looked  as  if  Ferdinand's 
dominions  were  falling  to  pieces  beneath  him.  In  view 
of  all  these  facts,  no  wonder  that  Frederick  was  undecided. 
He  said  to  the  Duke  of  Wurtemberg  :  "  Alas,  if  I  accept 
ihe  crown,  I  will  be  accused  of  ambition.  If  I  reject,  I 
^hall  be  branded  with  cowardice.  However  I  may  decide, 
there  is  no  place  for  me  or  my  country."  In  his  perplex- 
ity he  sought  the  advice  of  his  friends.     But  here  again 


18  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

there*was  a  division  of  opinion.  Landgrave  Maurice  of 
Hesse-Cassel,  the  princes  of  Baden,  Bairentli  and  Zwei- 
briicken  opposed  his  acceptance.  But  on  the  other  hand, 
his  uncles,  Count  Maurice  of  Nassau  and  the  Count  of 
Bouillon,  together  with  the  Duke  of  Wartemberg,  urged 
him  to  accept.  In  his  own  court  of  the  Palatinate  most 
of  his  advisors  urged  him  to  decline,  or  at  least  to  wait  for 
more  information.  Only  two  of  them,  Camerarius  and 
Meinhard  of  Schoenberg,  urged  him  to  accept.  He  sent 
to  his  father-in-law,  King  James  of  England,  for  advice, 
especially  as  he  would  probably  have  to  call  on  him  for 
aid.  But  communication  between  Germany  and  England 
was  slow  in  those  days.  The  people  of  England  were 
heartily  in  favor  of  his  accepting  it,  but  King  James  was 
an  uncertain  quantity. 

Two  influences  probably  led  Frederick  to  come  to  his 
decision.  One  was  a  religious  one.  Camerarius  declared 
that  his  election  was  a  call  of  God.  And  Scultetus,  his 
eloquent  court  preacher,  urged  him  to  accept  for  the  sake 
of  spreading  Protestantism.  Scultetus  even  expounded  a 
chapter  of  Revelation,  so  as  to  sanction  Frederick's  enter- 
prise, in  order  that  the  gospel  and  especially  the  Reformed 
doctrines  might  be  spread  to  the  remote  parts  of  the  German 
empire.  The  other  influence  was  his  wife,  who,  it  is  said, 
urged  him  to  accept,  saying :  ''  I  would  rather  eat  bread 
at  thy  kingly  table  than  feast  at  thy  electoral  board.'' 
(This  saying  is  however  not  proved  by  the  best  historians, 


19 


although  Schiller  quotes  it.)     But  Elizabeth  was  uudoubt- 
edly  favorable  to  his  acceptance.* 

So  finally,  without  waiting  for  the  reply  of  his  father- 
in-law,  he  publicly  announced  in  October,  that  he  had 
accepted  the  crown.  A  young  man  of  only  twenty-two 
years  of  age,  he  took  on  himself  issues  at  which  wiser  and 
older  heads  would  have  trembled.  As  one  writer  says  : 
^^  He  opened  war  against  half  the  world.''  Still  some 
nations,  as  Denmark,  Sweden,  Holland,  and  even  Venice, 
recognized  him  as  king.  Frederick  hoped  that  even  if  lie 
were  defeated  in  Bohemia,  he  would  only  loose  Bohemia 
and  the  expense  of  the  war,  but  he  expected  that  his 
hereditary  territory  of  the  Palatinate  would  remain  his. 
How  little  did  he  know  the  crafty  policy  of  his  enemy, 
the  Emperor,  who  saw  in  all  this  an  opportunity  to 
dethrone  him  in  the  Palatinate,  and  to  destroy  Protes- 
tantism with  him.  His  departure  from  Heidelberg  for 
Prague  was  ominous.  His  mother,  the  Electress  Juliane, 
who  inherited  the  statesman's  insight  from  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  opposed  Frederick's  acceptance.  She  uttered  a 
fateful  prophecy  as  he   left  :  "  And   now   the  Palatinate 

••■  She  wrote  to  hiin  :  '•  Since  you  are  pert-uadecl  that  the  throne  to  which 
you  are  invited,  is  a  call  from  God,  by  whose  Providence  are  all  things 
ordained  and  directed,  then  a.-:su redly  you  ought  not  to  shrink  from  the  duty 
imposed ;  nor  if  such  be  your  persuai^ion,  shall  I  repine,  whatever  conse- 
quences may  ensue.  Not  even  though  I  should  be  forced  to  part  from  my  last 
jewel,  and  to  suffer  actual  hardships,  shall  I  ever  repent  of  your  election." 


20      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

moves  to  Bohemia/'  And  then  she  went  to  a  sick  bed 
because  of  her  anxiety.* 

The  next  day  he  started  from  Heidelberg  with  a  retinue 
of  eighteen  carriages.  He  traveled  through  the  Upper 
Palatinate,  and  arrived  at  the  Bohemian  border  at  Wald- 
sassen.  Here  he  was  received  with  great  honor  by  the 
people.  Scultetus  preached  a  sermon  on  Christian  Unity, 
based  on  the  beautiful  20th  Psalm.  The  women  and  the 
children  gathered  around  to  kiss  the  garments  of,  or  pros- 
trate themselves  before,  the  beautiful  Queen  Elizabeth.f 

Reception  followed  reception  until  by  October  21  they 
arrived  at  Prague,  one  of  the  largest  and  most  picturesque 
cities  of  that  day.  The  whole  population  seemed  to  have 
gathered  at  the  beautiful  park  called  the  Star,  at  the  foot 
of  the  White  Mountain.  Magnificent  was  Frederick's 
entry  into  Prague.  Before  him  rode  four  hundred  citizens 
dressed  in  the  uncouth  style  of  Zisca,  the  great  Hussite 
general,  with  steel  caps  and  armor,  iron  lances  and  broad 

*■  The  day  before  Frederick's  departure  was  Sunday.  The  clouds  poured  in 
torrents.  Frederick  went  to  the  Reformed  church  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  bade 
his  people  farewell  amid  sighs  and  tears.  His  wife's  chaplain  preached  on  the 
ominous  text,  "  Whereas  ye  know  not  what  shall  be  on  the  morrow.  Go  to 
now,  ye  that  say  to-day  or  to-morrow  we  will  go  to  such  a  city  and  continue 
there  a  year,  and  buy  and  sell  and  get  gain."  Strange  to  say  Frederick 
remained  just  a  year  in  Bohemia. 

I  One  of  her  admirers  thus  wrote  about  her  beauty  ; 
So  when  my  mistress  shall  be  seen, 
In  form  and  beauty  of  her  mind, 
By  virtue  first,  then  choice,  a  Queen, 
Tell  me  if  she  were  not  designed 
Th'  Eclipse  and  Glory  of  her  kind. 


THE    CORONATION    OF    FREDERICK.  21 

bucklers,  and  with  pewter  cups  and  platters  for  their 
ensign,  which  they  rattled  as  a  salute  to  Frederick.  The 
horses  were  adorned  with  silver  and  gold.  Elizabeth 
rode  under  a  canopy  of  gold  and  violet  not  more  splendid 
than  her  own  complexion,  while  beside  her  on  horseback 
rode  Frederick  with  uncovered  head.  The  procession 
lasted  three  hours.  The  next  day  Scultetus  preached  a 
sermon  on  "  the  blessing  of  Christian  unity."*  The  Coro- 
nation took  place  November  4  in  the  the  chapel  of  St. 
Wenceslaus.  There  the  administrator  of  the  Hussites 
(Avho  had  been  identified  with  the  Calvin ists)  crowned 
Frederick,  praying  that  he  might  be  "  like  Joshua,  the 
victorious  hero ;  like  Moses,  all  truth  and  righteous- 
ness ;  like  David,  devoted  to  the  glory  of  God  ;  like  Sol- 
omon, teach  wisdom  ;  like  Hezekiah,  manifest  piety.'' 
The  ringing  of  bells  and  firing  of  guns  announced  the 
coronation.  On  the  6th  of  November  Elizabeth  was 
crowned  with  great  pomp. 

But  Frederick  soon  found  that  the  throne  of  Bohemia 
was  not  a  bed  of  roses.  Four  things  tended  to  harass  and 
weaken  his  power.     The  first  cause  was  a  soc/rt/ difference 

•••-  He  rose  in  eloquence  until  he  burst  forth  in  an  impassioned  exclamation  : 
"  And  is  not  this  God's  work  that  Frederick  is  now  your  elected  king?  It  is  a 
decree  of  providence,  and  shall  not  God  bring  higher  and  greater  things  to 
pass  ?  Is  it  not  a  miracle  that  in  the  very  country  where  during  fifteen  years 
discouragement  was  thrown  on  whatever  savored  of  evangelical  purity,  is  it 
not  a  miracle  of  miracles  that  even  here  we  should  have  an  evangelical  king."^ 
In  conclusion  he  insinuated  that  Frederick  would  ultimately  ascend  the 
throne  of  the  German  empire. 


22      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

between  Frederick's  polished  court  aud  the  plain  Bohemian 
people.  Many  of  their  customs  appeared  old  fashioned, 
yes,  ridiculous,  to  Frederick's  followers.  On  the  other 
hand,  while  they  had  been  accustomed  to  see  dignity  and 
majesty  in  their  king,  Frederick's  levity  tended  to  lower 
him  in  their  eyes.  Thus  on  one  occasion  he  gave  great 
oifense  by  going  out  sleighing  in  a  velvet  coat  with  a 
white  hat,  decorated  with  yellow  feathers.  The  splendor 
and  extravas^ance  of  Frederick's  court  also  caused  dissatis- 
faction,  for  the  Bohemians  were  economical  as  well  as 
plain.  The  Bohemian  ladies  criticised,  yes,  were  shocked 
at  the  French  style  of  dress  of  the  court.  This  alienation 
was  increased  by  the  laughter  of  some  of  Frederick's  fol- 
lowers at  the  boorish  manners  of  the  Bohemians.  Thus 
on  St.  Isabella's  Day  the  wives  of  certain  citizens  prepared 
for  the  queen  a  gift  of  Bohemian  cakes,  and  comfits,  and 
loaves  of  bread.  These,  crammed  into  sacks  like  measures 
■of  meal,  were  brought  to  her.  The  queen  received  them 
kindly,  but  her  retainers  laughed  at  the  gift.  One  of  her 
pages  snatched  one  of  the  loaves,  twisted  it  into  fantastic 
shapes,  which  he  put  on  his  hat  like  a  wreath.  Others 
followed  his  example,  and  the  poor  Bohemians  went  away 
with  their  feelings  wounded. 

These  social  differences  were  increased  by  the  religious 
diiferences.  Most  of  the  Protestants  were  Hussites. 
These,  with  the  Lutherans,  were  careless  about  many 
religious  rites,  upon  which  the    Reformed   looked   with 


Frederick's  zeal  for  the  reformed.  23 

aversion.  The  ancient  altars  had  been  retained  in  the 
cathedral  at  Prague.  But  Scultetus  soon  was  unable  to 
contain  himself,  and  preached  against  images  as  idols. 
Inflamed  by  his  sermons,  the  few  Calvinists  countenanced 
by  some  nobles,  as  Baron  Rupa,  suddenly  entered  that 
church  in  order  to  prepare  it  for  the  communion  of  Christ- 
mas, tore  down  the  crucifix  which  had  been  venerated 
for  centuries,  and  also  put  away  the  altars,  pictures  and 
statues.  One  of  the  statues  Scultetus  addressed,  saying, 
^'  Help  thyself,  if  thou  canst,  thou  poor,  silly  thing*;  help 
thyself."  On  Christmas  Frederick  celebrated  the  Lord's 
Supper  after  the  Reformed  fashion.  The  Calvinists  then 
tried  to  remove  the  great  sacred  crucifix  which  for  many 
centuries  had  stood  on  the  bridge  over  the  Moldau  River 
at  Prague.  This  caused  a  reaction  against  them,  for  this 
crucifix  was  a  sort  of  national  ensign  to  the  people,  and 
had  never  been  removed,  even  by  the  Hussites.  Popular 
sentiment  prevented  its  removal  by  the  Reformed.  After 
this  Frederick  visited  Silesia  to  receive  the  homage  of  the 
Silesian  nobility.  Here  again  his  zeal  for  the  Reformed 
showed  itself.  Most  of  the  Silesian  Protestants  were 
Lutherans,  only  two  of  its  princes  being  Reformed,  the 
Duke  of  Brieg  and  the  Count  of  Schonaich  or  Beuthen. 
John  Christian,  Duke  of  Brieg,  was  however,  a  very 
prominent  noble.  Although  only  twenty-six  years  of  age, 
he  was  the  oldest  of  the  Silesian  nobles  and  the  general  of 
the  Silesian  armv.     His  wife  was  a  Brandenburg  princess, 


24      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

the  lovely  '^  Dorel'^  (her  name  was  Dorothea  Sibylla),  who 
was  famous  for  her  kindness  to  the  poor  and  her  interest 
in  the  public  schools.  For  this  he  called  her  his  "  upper 
schoolmaster."  She  founded  as  early  as  1616a  Bible  Society 
to  provide  the  poor  with  the  Bible.  She  spoke  several 
languages  and  was  a  fine  musician.  She  was  as  good  and 
beautiful  as  he  was  brave.  Scultetus  greatly  rejoiced  in 
going  with  Frederick  to  Breslau,  because  he  longed  to 
bring  the  Reformed  faith  to  the  land  of  his  birth  and  to 
the  hbme  of  Ursinus,  one  of  the  authors  of  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism.  When  Frederick  arrived  at  Breslau,  he  held 
in  the  great  room  of  the  castle  a  Reformed  service.  Scul- 
tetus preached,  and  Buchwalder,  the  court  preacher  of  the 
Duke  of  Brieg,  assisted.  Frederick  also  issued  a  letter  of 
majesty,  allowing  the  Reformed  to  have  a  church  of  their 
own.  All  this  caused  great  opposition  among  the  Luth- 
erans. Thus  Frederick's  zeal  for  the  Reformed  faith, 
which  had  so  few  adherents  in  Bohemia  and  Silesia, 
aifronted  the  zealous  Lutherans  and  Hussites. 

But  the  third  reason  was  the  most  important  difficulty. 
It  was  Si  financial  one.  Money  was  scarce  and  the  Bohemians 
were  little  accustomed  to  pay  taxes,  when  levied  on  them. 
Camerarius  was  greatly  depressed  in  spirit  when  he  found 
out  the  lamentable  condition  of  the  finances.  To  add  to 
these  difficulties,  jealousies  broke  out  between  the  Bohemian 
and  German  nobles.  Count  Thurn  murmured,  because  a 
German,  the  Duke  of  Anhalt,  was  made  commander  of  the 


25 


army.  The  troops  were  not  paid  and  mutinies  broke  out, 
often  just  at  the  most  critical  times.  Two  months  before 
the  battle  of  White  Mountain,  the  wages  due  the  soldiers 
rose  to  five  and  a  half  million  gulden. 

A  fourth  difficulty  was  a  political  one.  Frederick,  to 
the  great  disappointment  of  the  Bohemians,  failed  to  bring 
any  allies  to  their  cause.  France  refused.  The  Protestant 
Union  of  Germany,  of  which  Frederick  was  the  head, 
refused  to  aid  them.  King  James  of  England  was  too 
stingy  to  aid  his  son-in-law.  The  only  ally  he  had  was 
Bethlen  Gabor,  who  was  unable  to  help  Frederick  in  his 
extremity.  So  Frederick  in  his  desperation  concluded  an 
alliance  which  gave  great  oifence.  He  came  to  an  under- 
standing with  the  Sultan  of  Turkey.  This  act  was  looked 
upon  by  many  of  his  subjects  as  an  unholy  alliance  with  an 
infidel.  The  Lutherans  took  it  up,  saying  that  the  Cal- 
vinists  were  half  Mohammedans,  because  both  believed  in 
predestination.  The  feeling  against  the  movement  became 
so  great  that  on  April  15  Scultetus  preached  a  sermon  jus- 
tifying his  master's  course. 

All  these  reasons  tended  to  destroy  Frederick's  author- 
ity and  success.  And  while  Protestantism  was  thus  divid- 
ing, Catholicism  was  uniting.  Unlike  the  Protestant 
Union,  the  Catholic  League  took  up  arms  in  this  contest 
and  marched  to  help  Ferdinand.  The  Austrian  army  of 
the  Emperor  and  the  German  army  of  the  League  united 
against  Prague.  The  Bohemian  army  retreated  before 
3 


26      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

these  two  armies,  until  they  met  in  decisive  battle,  Novem- 
ber 8,  1620,  at  White  Mountain,  three  miles  from  Prague. 
The  Bohemian  troops  lacked  money  and  discipline,  wliile 
the   Austrians    had   their   religious    fanaticism    inflamed 
before  the  battle  by  a  Carmelite  monk,  who  went  up  and 
down  the  ranks  with  a  crucifix,  saying,   "  Fight  and  ye 
shall  prosper  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  of  hosts.'^      The 
imperial  (Austrian)  forces  attacked  the   Bohemian   left. 
But  the  young  Duke  of  Anhalt  made  such  a  bold    sally 
that  he  almost  defeated  the  enemy.    Indeed  the  news  came 
to  Prague  that  they  were  defeated.      But  he   was  finally 
forced  back.     Tilly  attacked  the  Bohemian  right.      Then 
just  at  the  critical  moment  the  Hungarian  cavalry  in   the 
Bohemian  army  turned  to  flee.     In  doing  this  they  dis- 
organized the  Bohemian  infantry  behind  them,  and  finally 
started    Frederick's   own    Palatinate   troops   into    flight. 
Count  Schlick's  Moravian  regiment  stood  like  a  rock,  but 
they  were  too  few  to  stem  the  tide.     The  Bohemian  army ' 
melted  away  into  a  panic.     The  battle  was  all  over  in  an 
hour.     Four  thousand  Bohemians  strewed  the  battle-field, 
while  one  thousand  more  were  drowned  in  trying  to  swim 
the  river  Moldau.     The  imperial  army  lost  only  250.* 

Elizabeth  was  at  service  (for  the  battle  occurred  on 
Sunday),  and  the  minister  had  just  read,  "  Render  unto 
Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,"  etc.,  when  the  thunder 

*-  Frederick  was  not  in  the  battle.  For  this  he  has  been  charged  with  cow- 
ardice. But  it  seems  he  went  to  get  money  to  stop  a  mutiny  of  his  troops  just 
on  the  eve  of  battle. 


Frederick's  defeat.  27 

of  the  battle  shook  the  churchy  and  tlie  minister  left  the 
pulpit,  and  the  congregation  rushed  to  the  gate  to  see  the 
battle.  Frederick  was  at  dinner  with  the  English  ambas- 
sador, but  hastened  to  the  battle-field.  When  he  arrived 
at  the  city  gate,  it  was,  alas,  to  see  his  army  in  flight.  The 
beautiful  Star  Park,  where  a  year  before  he  had  received 
the  homage  of  the  Bohemian  nobles,  was  now  the  scene  of 
his  defeat.  In  his  agony  he  almost  threw  himself  from 
the  tower  to  the  ground,  but  controlling  himself,  he  ordered 
the  gate  to  be  opened  to  receive  the  fugitives  and  save 
them  from  the  enemy. 

It  was  soon  found  that  the  army  was  too  demoralized 
to  undertake  the  defense  of  the  city.  So  the  next  day  at 
9  A.  M.  Frederick  left  Prague  in  haste  for  Breslau.  Young 
Count  Thurn  offered  to  defend  the  citadel  for  a  few  days, 
so  as  to  give  Elizabeth  time  to  escape.  But  she,  with  noble 
heart,  said  :  '^  I  forbid  the  sacrifice.  Never  shall  the  son 
of  our  best  friend  hazard  his  life  to  spare  my  fears.  Never 
shall  this  devoted  city  be  exposed  to  more  outrageous  treat- 
ment for  my  sake.  Rather  let  me  perish  on  the  spot  than 
be  remembered  as  a  curse."  The  enemy,  on  account  of 
the  terrible  condition  of  the  roads,,  could  not  follow  Fred- 
erick. If  the  snow  through  which  Frederick  and  his 
company  passed,  had  fallen  a  few  days  before,  it  would 
have  saved  Frederick  from  defeat.  At  Breslau  Frederick 
tried  to  regain  his  fortunes  by  organizing  the  Silesian 
states.     But,  alas,  everything  seemed  demoralized  by  his 


28  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

defeat.     The  Elector  of  Saxony  turned  against  him,  as  he 
was  influenced  by  his  court  preacher,  Hoe  von  Hoenegg.* 
Because  the  Elector  of  Saxony  had  warned   the  Silesian 
states  against  him,  Frederick  felt  he  was  unsafe   in   Bres- 
lau.     He  sent  his  family  ahead  to  his  brother-in-law,  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg.     He  himself  soon  after  followed, 
spending  the  last  night  in  Silesia  with    Count    John   of 
Beuthen.     But  on  account  of  the  increasing  danger  he  soon 
left  Brandenburg  and  went  to  Hague  with  his    family, 
where  in  the  suburb  Rhenen  his  family  found  an  asylum 
during  the  terrible  war.      Here  they   lived  in    seclusion. 
The  common  people  sneered  at  them  as  the  beggar  king 
and  queen.     With  Frederick  fell  the  Reformed  Church  of 
Bohemia  and  Silesia.      Scultetus  fled   with  Frederick  to 
Breslau  and  then  went  to  Heidelberg.     But  he  soon  had 
to  leave  Heidelberg  on  account  of  the  war,  and  went  to 
Emden,  where  he  preached  for  many  years  till   he  died. 
He  was  the  most  eloquent  preacher  among  the  Reformed, 
being  called  "  the  oracle  of  Germany."     But  he  seems  to 
have  been  lacking  in  judgment,  although  he  was  devotedly 
attached  to  the  Reformed  faith. f 

•=■  For  the  latter  had  been  a  minister  at  Prague  some  years  before,  and  had 
been  compelled  to  leave  because  of  his  strict  Lutheranism.  He  now  had  an 
opportunity  to  revenge  himself,  and  he  poisoned  the  ear  of  his  master  against 
the  Bohemians  with  their  Reformed  king.  But  the  short-sighted  Elector,  in 
refusing  to  help  Frederick,  saw  a  year  later  the  Lutherans  driven  out  of 
Prague  and  Bohemia.     He  thus  received  his  just  reward. 

t  The  Count  of  Beuthen  had  founded  a  Reformed  gymnasium  in  1613  in  his 
home  which  seemed  destined  to  be  a  Reformed  centre  for  eastern  Germany. 
But  after  Frederick's  defeat  he  was  treated  as  a  criminal,  because  of  his  friend- 


THE    SUFFERINGS    OF    THE    BOHEMIANS.  29 

Bohemia  suffered  worse  than  Silesia.  As  Protestantism 
fell,  Romanism  rose.  Ferdinand  brought  back  the  Jesuits 
to  reconvert  that  land  to  Romanism.  The  property  of 
the  Protestants  was  confiscated,  their  pastors  were  banished, 
their  Bibles  burned,  their  dead  left  unburied.  They  were 
shut  up  in  cages  and  cells.  Mothers  bound  to  posts  had 
their  babes  laid  at  their  feet,  so  that  the  sufferings  of  their 
offspring  might  appeal  to  them  to  go  to  Romanism.  The 
Protestants  scattered  to  other  lands.  In  seven  years  more 
than  30,000  families  emigrated,  and  a  population  of  three 
millions  was  reduced  to  800,000.  A  night  of  a  century 
and' a  half  rested  on  that  land  until  the  Edict  of  Tolera- 
tion by  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  11.  at  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century. 

The  closing  scene  of  this  tragedy  took  place  on  June 
21,  1621,  when  27  of  the  leading  nobles  of  Bohemia,  some 
of  them  Reformed,  were  led  out  to  be  put  to  death.  They 
spent  the  night  in  prayer,  and  from  Psalm  86  :  17,  asked 
a  token  or  sign  of  God.  At  4  a.  m.  they  were  taken  in 
covered  carts  to  the  city  square.     Suddenly  at  five,  just 

ship  with  Frederick.  However  he  escaped  personal  injury,  because  he  had  a 
hunting  castie  in  his  territory  so  near  Poland,  that  in  time  of  danger  he  would 
escape  over  the  line  into  Poland  and  be  safe.  But  the  war  closed  the  gymna- 
sium in  1629.  Duke  John  Christian  of  Brieg,  the  other  Reformed  noble,  was 
at  first  put  under  the  ban  of  the  Emperor,  but  he  returned  soon  after,  when  the 
Elector  of  Saxony  went  to  Silesia.  His  land,  however,  suffered  severely  during 
the  war.  Brieg  suffered  a  terrible  siege  from  the  Swedes  in  1642.  By  1675 
the  last  Reformed  prince  of  his  line  died,  and  after  that  the  Reformed  of  Silesia 
had  to  go  to  Lissa  in  Poland  for  worship,  for  the  Reformed  were  not  tolerated 
in  Silesia. 


30  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

before  their  execution,  a  double  rainbow  like  a  crescent 
appeared.  At  the  sight  of  it  some  fell  on  their  knees, 
some  clapped  their  hands,  some  thought  of  Noah's  rain- 
bow, others  spoke  of  the  rainbow  at  God's  throne.  Count  . 
Schlick  was  the  first  to  be  beheaded.  Within  two  hours 
the  execution  was  all  over.  The  heads  and  hands  of 
twelve  of  them  were  hung  on  the  east  tower  of  the  bridge 
over  the  Moldau  river,  as  a  warning  to  all  traitors  and 
heretics.  Professor  Jessenius,  who  had  predicted  the 
deposition  of  the  Emperor  through  Frederick's  war,  liad 
his  tongue  torn  from  his  mouth  before  he  was  put  to  death. 
On  that  tower  for  ten  years  those  ghastly,  Aveather-beaten 
bones  hung,  until  the  Saxon  army  captured  Prague  and 
reverently  took  them  down.*  So  ended  Frederick's 
inglorious  reign. 

One  result  more  of  Frederick's  defeat  must  be  noticed. 
Frederick  had  hoped  that,  if  defeated,  only  Bohemia 
would  be  taken  away  from  him,  but  that  his  hereditary 
province,  the  Palatinate,  'would  remain  to  him,  and  he 
could  retire  to  it  again.  But  the  Emperor  knew  his 
opportunity,  and  at  Vienna  capped  the  climax  and  com- 
pleted the  matter  by  putting  Frederick  under  the  ban  of 
the  empire,  January  29,  1621,  and  declaring  him  an  out- 
law for  treason  against  the  government.  He  also  put 
three  of  Frederick's   most  active  helpers  under  the  ban 

•■■By  a  curious  coincidence  the  sword  of  the  executioner  was  discovered  257 
years  after  (1878)  in  Edinburg,  Scotland.  On  it  were  the  names  of  the  exe- 
cutioner and  the  victims. 


THE   DEPOSITION   OF   FREDERICK.  31 

with  him — Count  Christian  of  Anhalt,*  the  Count  of 
Hohenloe,  and  the  Margrave  of  Jagerndorf.  This  arbi- 
trary and  unjust  act  of  Ferdinand  was  finally  approved  by 
the  German  Diet  in  1623,  and  the  electoral  hat  of  the 
Palatinate  was  transferred  to  Bavaria.  The  Emperor 
authorized  Bavaria,  Spain  and  the  Catholic  League  to 
carry  out  the  ban  against  Frederick  and  take  possession 
of  the  Palatinate.  This  suited  Bavaria,  for  she  wanted 
Upper  Palatinate  as  indemnity  for  her  war  expenses  of 
thirteen  million  florins.  It  suited  Spain,  for  she  wanted 
to  capture  the  Lower  Palatinate.  It  suited  the  Catholic 
League,  for  they  wanted  to  destroy  Protestantism  in  the 
Palatinate.  But  the  ban  was  very  unjust.  For  Ferdi- 
nand had  taken  oath,  when  made  Emperor,  not  to  pro- 
nounce the  ban  without  giving  the  defendant  a  hearing. 
Yet  he  refused  Frederick  the  right,  which  belonged  to 
the  meanest  of  his  subjects,  namely,  of  trial  by  his  peers. 
Again,  Ferdinand  had  taken  oath  that  he  would  not 
decide  any  matter  of  importance  without  the  action  of  the 
Electors.  But  here  he  deposed  Frederick  without  asking 
their  advice.  This  act  was  unjust,  because  Ferdinand 
was  an  interested  party.  He  was  plaintiff  as  well  as 
judge,  for  he  was  the  enemy  of  Frederick  in  the  Bohemian 
quarrel.  The  ban  was  the  more  unjust,  because  Frederick 
had  never  declared  himself  in  rebellion  against  his  sover- 


*He  fled  to  Flensburg,  but  was  soon  reconciled  with    the  Emperor,    and 
entered  his  service  in  1629  as  Imperial  Chamberlain. 


32  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

eign,  the  Emperor.  Besides  he  had  not  provoked  the 
war  in  Bohemia,  but  had  come  in  after  it  had  begun, 
rather  as  an  agent,  not  as  a  principal.  And  even  if 
Frederick  were  guilty  of  treason,  Ferdinand  had  no  right 
to  include  his  whole  family  in  the  punishment,  by  depriv- 
ing them  of  their  hereditary  rights  as  heirs  of  the  Palat- 
inate. 

Ferdinand's  motive  in  all  this  was  very  evident. 
*'  Since  God,''  he  said,  ^^  has  given  us  an  opportunity  to 
TOot  out  these  heretics,  the  precious  moment  ought  not  to 
be  neglected."  He  aimed  to  uproot  Protestantism,  and 
■especially  the  Reformed  faith.  Thus,  too,  the  Catholics 
regained  their  power  in  the  Electoral  College,  by  taking 
away  one  Protestant  Elector  and  giving  it  to  a  Catholic, 
thus  making  the  college  stand  five  Romanists  to  two 
Protestants.  It  began  to  look  as  if  Rome  were  again  in  a 
fair  way  to  regain  Germany. 

So  ended  Frederick's  inglorious  reign.  It  had  lasted 
only  a  year.  He  has  therefore  been  styled  the  "  Winter- 
Jiing"  by  the  Jesuits,  who  prophesied  that  his  reign  would 
not  last  till  summer.  Ten  years  later  the  Snow-king 
came  from  the  North  to  avenge  him,  as  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus  appeared  to  gain  the  victories  that  compensated  for 
Frederick's  defeat. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  II. 
THE   WAR  IN   THE   PALATINATE. 

We  have  thus  far  followed  the  war  in  Bohemia.  Let 
us  look  at  the  effects  of  Frederick's  deposition  on  the 
Palatinate.  For  a  little  while  the  Protestant  Union  made 
an  attempt  to  defend  the  Palatinate,  although  it  had  not 
aided  Frederick  in  Bohemia.  The  Bavarians  marched 
into  the  district  east  of  the  Rhine,  while  Spinola,  the 
Spanish  general,  marched  up  the  west  side  of  the  Rhine 
from  the  Netherlands  with  24,000  troops.  By  a  quick 
movement  they  cut  the  troops  of  the  Union  into  two  sec- 
tions, separating  Hesse-Cassel  in  the  North  from  Wur- 
temberg  and  Badai  in  the  South.  Meanwhile  the  poor 
people  of  the  Palatinate  seemed  to  realize  the  great  danger 
that  was  impending  over  them.  At  Heidelberg  in  Janu- 
ary, 1627,  after  the  public  service,  many  would  remain  in 
the  churches  for  prayer  for  their  country.  When  the 
prayer  and  fast  days  of  the  follov/ing  May  came,  many  of 
the  people  spent  most  of  the  day  in  the  churches — a  most 
extraordinary  thing  in  the  Reformed  Church,  but  show- 
ing their  great  anxiety.  Owing  to  the  scarcity  of  money, 
many  of  the  Reformed  ministers  were  not  paid.  Such 
was  the  condition  of  aifairs  when  the   news  came  that 


34      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

Frederick  was  defeated  at  Prague.  And  when  the  Empe- 
ror put  the  ban  on  Frederick,  their  anxiety  became  very 
great.  But  in  spite  of  it  all,  the  people  remained  true  to 
Frederick,  even  after  the  ban  was  placed  on  him  ;  for  the 
ministers  persisted  in  using  the  title  of  King  when  they 
prayed  for  him,  thus  showing  their  loyalty  to  him,  even 
though  the  Emperor  had  deposed  him. 

But,  alas,  for  the  Palatinate,  the  Protestant  Union, 
which  was  the  only  power  that  could  protect  her,  began 
to  fall  to  pieces.  The  dissensions  between  Lutherans  and 
Reformed  paved  the  way  for  this.  The  defeat  of  Fred- 
erick at  White  Mountain  completed  the  dissolution.  As 
early  as  April  12,  1621,  it  was  dissolved,  although  there 
still  remained  some  troops  in  the  Palatinate.  Sir  Horace 
Yere  was  there  with  5000  English  and  Dutch  troops,  sent 
by  King  James  to  protect  the  territory  of  his  son-in-law. 
Yere  was  aided  by  the  Palatinate  troops  under  Colonel 
Obertraut,  whom  the  Danes  afterwards  called  "  th*e  Ger- 
man MichaeP'  for  his  bravery.  Cordova,  the  successor  of 
Spinola,  marched  up  the  Bergstrasse,  the  great  road  from 
Frank  ford  to  Heidelberg.  Electress  Juliane,  Frederick's 
mother,  fled  at  their  approach  to  Brandenburg,  where  she 
found  an  asylum  at  Koenigsburg  during  the  war. 

The  Spaniards  then  attacked  the  brave  city  of  Frank- 
enthal.  The  Reformed  of  the  Palatinate  spent  October 
8  as  a  day  of  prayer  for  the  salvation  of  Frankenthal.  So 
bravely  was  it  defended,  that  the  Spaniards  met  with  a 


THE    RETURN    OF    FREDERICK.  35 

rebuff.  And,  lo,  the  prayers  of  the  people  were  answered. 
For  suddenly,  as  if  from  the  clouds,  Count  Mansfield 
appeared  with  his  army  from  Bohemia,  and  the  Spaniards 
withdrew  from  Frankenthal.  But  a  worse  than  Cordova 
now  took  charge  of  the  Austrian  army.  This  was  Tilly, 
"  the  Austrian  butcher,"  ^^  the  Attila  of  modern  times," 
"  the  Alva  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,"  in  his  cruelties. 
No  grass  ever  grew  n  his  tracks.  He  had  been  educated 
as  a  Jesuit,  but  had  exchanged  the  Jesuit  vestments  for 
the  mailed  coat  of  a  soldier.  He  now  came  to  add  the 
cruelties  of  religious  persecutions  to  the  other  woes  of  the 
war.  Tilly  approached  Heidelberg,  but  first  attacked 
Dillsberg,  ^^  the  Gibraltar  of  the  Neckar,"  perched  like  an 
eagle's  nest  on  the  cliff.  After  furiously  storming  it,  he 
demanded  its  surrender.  The  commander  asked  for  three 
days  to  consider.  In  the  meanwhile  he  sent  his  chaplain, 
Forgeon,  to  Heidelberg,  to  find  out  ifthere  was  any  chance 
of  his  getting  succor.  He  returned  with  the  startling 
news  that  King  Frederick  had  suddenly  appeared  in  the 
Palatinate.  His  presence  was  worth  a  thousand  men,  and 
inspired  hope  for  his  lost  cause.  For  Frederick  had 
returned  in  disguise  to  his  own  land,  although  he  did  so 
through  great  dangers.  At  Bitsch  he  even  had  to  drink 
to  the  success  of  the  Austrians,  in  order  to  hide  his  iden- 
tity. And  two  French  gentlemen  almost  led  to  his  dis- 
covery, for  one  of  them  cried  out  Avhen  he  saw  him,  "  The 
King  of  Bohemia  !"  Nor  did  Frederick  arrive  in  the  Pala- 


36  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

tinate  a  moment  too  soon  to  save  his  fortunes.  For  his 
general,  Count  Mansfield,  was  already  intriguing  with  the 
Emperor  about  surrendering.  The  Reformed  inhabitants 
of  the  Palatinate  rejoiced  that  they  had  their  prince  once 
more  among  them.  Frederick  again  visited  Heidelberg. 
The  most  touching  scene  was  the  return  of  Professor 
Parens,  the  pupil  and  successor  of  Ursinus,  to  Heidelberg. 
AYhen  the  Spaniards  approached,  he  had  fled  to  Neustadt, 
because  he  had  so  severely  written  against  the  Pope.  But 
now  that  his  prince  was  again  in  Heidelberg,  in  spite  of 
the  dangers,  he  came  back  to  Heidelberg,  because  he  wanted 
to  die  there.  On  June  9  (Whit-Sunday)  he  received  the 
communion  with  the  Elector  and  the  congregation.  The 
following  week  he  passed,  full  of  hope,  from  the  Lord's 
Supper  of  earth  to  the  Lamb's  Supper  in  heaven. 

The  advantage,  however,  gained  by  Frederick's  pres- 
ence was  only  temporary.  His  ally,  the  Margrave  of 
Baden-Durlach,  who  had  assembled  an  army  of  7000,  was 
badly  defeated  at  Wimpfen,  May  6,  1622,  and  Mansfield 
retreated.  Frederick  now  gave  up  all  hope.  His  money 
failed,  defeat  after  defeat  disheartened  him.  He  finally 
concluded  that  his  territory  and  titles  could  not  be 
regained  by  war,  so  he*  would  try  diplomacy.  In  an  evil 
hour  he  dismissed  his  army.  And  the  Palatinate,  being 
without  a  protector,  was  left  at  the  mercy  of  the  Austri- 
ans,  and  the  terrible  ravage  of  the  Palatinate  began. 

Only  three  places  remained  which  the  Emperor  had  not 


THE    SIEGE    OF    HEIDELBERG.  37 

taken — Heidelberg,  Manheim  and  Frankenthal.  Tilly 
soon  appeared  before  Heidelberg.  From  the  Holy  Moun- 
tain, on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Neckar,  he  began  shooting 
at  the  city.  But  the  garrison  made  a  brave  sally  and  drove 
the  enemy  back.  Then  he  crossed  the  river  and  sur- 
rounded the  city  with  forts  and  forces  from  AVieblingen  to 
Schwetzingen.  Heidelberg  consisted  of  two  parts,  the  city 
proper,  in  the  valley  along  the  Neckar  river,  and  the  castle 
on  the  mountain  above.  Both  were  strongly  defended 
with  extra  fortifications.  Thus  on  the  Geisberg  mountain 
there  were  two  additional  forts,  Trutz-Bayern  and  Trutz- 
Kaiser,  as  a  defiance  to  both  Bavarians  and  the  Emperor. 
Besides  these  there  were  smaller  additional  forts,  as  Crow's 
Nest  and  Horn-work.  The  garrison  consisted  of  English, 
Dutch  and  Palatinate  troops  under  Colonel  DeMervin. 
The  Bavarians  took  possession  of  the  King's  Seat  on  top  of 
the  mountain,  above  the  castle.  Tilly  then  began  to  draw 
his  lines  closer  around  the  city.  On  August  26  he  sum- 
moned the  city  to  surrender.  As  the  commander  refused, 
he  began  bombarding  the  city.  This  continued  for  three 
days.  Little  damage  was  done,  except  that  a  few  balls 
struck  the  church  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  one  of  which  broke 
into  the  tomb  of  Elector  Lewis.*  Tilly  captured  the 
Crow's  Nest,  September  12.  On  the  fifteenth  a  trumpeter 
sounded  from  the  Geisberg  the  signal  to  storm  the  city. 


■-'■  One  writer  facetiously  says :  "  Nobody  was  hurt  except  a  cat  and  two 
roosters."     But  the  fun  of  it  soon  passed  away  into  a  terrible  reality. 


38      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

But  the  garrison  made  a  very  brave  defence  and  under 
Colonel  Landschad  drove  the  enemy  at  the  Spire  gate  far 
out  into  the  fields.  Meanwhile  the  Bavarians  had  taken 
the  Trutz-Bavern  and  Trutz-Kaiser,  and  from  these 
opened  a  terrible  fire  on  the  city.  Then  the  Croats  came 
marching  into  the  city  from  the  other  side  of  the  Neckar. 
Colonel  DeMervin  was  compelled  to  retire  with  his  sol- 
diers from  the  city  to  the  castle,  and  leave  the  city  to  the 
mercy  of  the  enemy,  Avhose  mercy  was  no  mercy  at  all ; 
for  they  murdered  some  of  the  citizens  and  burned  seventy 
houses.  For  three  days  they  ravaged  the  city.  The  great 
Reformed  professor,  Henry  Alting,  started  to  flee  through 
the  back  door  of  his  house,  when  an  Austrian  lieutenant 
met  him  saying  :  "  I  have  killed  ten  men  to-day  with  this 
club.  If  I  knew  Ayhere  Professor  Alting  was,  he  would 
be  the  eleventh."  Dr.  Alting  evaded  the  man's  questions 
by  saying  that  he  Avas  a  teacher  in  the  Sapienz  College  (for 
in  addition  to  his  duties  as  professor  he  taught  there). 
Fortunately  the  officer  was  called  away  just  then  to  pre- 
pare the  church  of  the  Holy  Ghost  for  a  Jesuit  service. 
Alting  hid  in  a  loft,  and  was  fed  for  awhile  by  an  Aus- 
trian lieutenant  from  Tilly's  table.  By  and  by  he  was 
able  to  flee  to  Groningen,  where  he  became  professor. 
Finally  the  brave  commander,  DeMervin,  surrendered  the 
castle,  September  16. 

Tilly  having  captured  Heidelberg,  proceeded  against 
Manheim,  which  was  defended  by  the  brave  Englishman, 


THE    SURRENDER    OF    FRAXKENTHAL.  39 

Colonel  Yere.  He  began  the  siege  there  September  29,  by 
a  bombardment  of  Eichelstein.  As  Yere  had  not  troops 
enough  to  defend  the  whole  city,  he  brought  the  troops  and 
supplies  to  the  citadel,  Friedrichsberg,  after  burning  that 
part  of  the  city  that  lay  nearest  the  citadel.  Here  their 
suffering  became  very  great.  The  soldiers  were  despondent, 
food  was  scarce.  Many  became  sick.  Powder  began  to 
give  out.  There  had  been  no  money  for  a  long  time,  there 
was  no  physician,  and  little  wood  to  warm  themselves 
against  a  severe  winter.  So  Yere  finally  surrendered 
November  8. 

There  now  remained  in  the  Palatinate  only  one  fort 
that  had  not  surrendered,  the  brave  Frankenthal,  the  dower 
of  Electress  Elizabeth.  Tilly  appeared  before  it  in  Novem- 
ber, expecting  an  easy  victory,  but  he  reckoned  without 
his  host.  It  was  the  bravest  town  in  the  Palatinate.  Its 
inhabitants  were  the  descendants  of  brave  ancestors,  who 
had  left  the  Netherlands  for  the  sake  of  their  religion,  and 
they  were  ready  again  to  lay  down  their  lives  for  it.  They 
made  such  a  bold  and  successful  sally,  that  Tilly  did  not 
deem  it  wise  to  begin  the  siege  so  late  in  that  winter.  So 
the  brave  defenders  with  joy  saw  the  enemy  depart.  But 
most  shameful  to  relate,  four  months  later  that  brave  city 
was  given  up  without  a  stroke.  The  bravest  colony  in  the 
Palatinate  was  conquered  Avithout  a  chance  to  defend  itself. 
For  as  the  town  had  been  the  dower  of  King  James'  daugh- 
ter, James  had  placed  a  small  army  in  it  to  protect  her 


40      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

interests.  At  this  time,  however,  Spain  was  coquetting- 
with  him,  trying  to  get  his  son  to  marry  a  Spanish  princess.. 
The  Catholic  statesmen  saw  their  opportunity.  They  per- 
suaded James  to  agree  to  an  armistice  for  15  months,  dur- 
ing which  time  negotiations  between  England  and  Austria 
could  be  completed.  During  that  time  Frankenthal  was 
to  receive  a  Spanish  garrison.  He  agreed  to  it  and  the 
town  was  given  up  without  a  battle.  \Vlien,  however,  he 
demanded  the  restoration  of  the  town,  it  appeared  that 
there  had  been  no  stipulation  in  the  armistice  for  English 
troops  to  pass  through  the  territory  of  the  Emiperor.  Con- 
sequently, even  if  it  were  given  up  to  him,  he  could  not 
get  to  it.  It  seems  hardly  possible  that  James  would  allow 
himself  to  be  deceived  by  such  trickery.  At  any  rate  the 
Spaniards  gained  possession  of  it,  and  as  possession  is  nine 
points  of  the  la\v,  they  held  it  not  for  fifteen  months,  but 
for  ten  years. 

If  the  Palatinate  suffered  from  the  enemy,  much  more 
did  the  Reformed  Church  suffer.  She  was  left  without  any 
defenders,  while  the  Jesuits  came  in  to  add  religious  perse- 
cutions to  the  other  woes  of  the  inhabitants.  At  the  sur- 
render of  Heidelberg,  the  Reformed  received  no  guarantee 
that  they  would  be  allowed  to  retain  their  worship.  Even 
before  the  three  days'  plundering  of  the  town  was  over,  the 
Jesuits  celebrat(Kl  a  Te  Deum  in  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Tilly  gave  that  Church  to  the  Jesuits,  and  the 
other  Reformed  churches  to  other  Romish  orders..     The 


PERSECUTIONS    OF    THE    REFORMED.  41 

papal  nuncio  boasted  in  his  report  to  the  Pope  that  "  in  the 
city  from  which  the  Calvinistic  Creed,  the  Heidelberg  Cat- 
echism, had  been  published,  the  holy  mass  was  now  cele- 
brated and  the  true  faith  proclaimed."  The  Reformed 
ministers  were  all  ordered  to  leave  by  February,  1623. 
This  was  very  severe  on  them,  as  it  drove  them  out  home- 
less in  the  cold  winter.  The  citizens  appealed  for  their 
ministers  that  they  be  allowed  to  remain,  but  were  refused. 
The  ministers  in  the  country  charges  were  allowed  to  per- 
form their  duties  a  little  longer,  provided  they  would  an- 
nounce Catholic  feast  days  from  their  pulpits.  Those  who 
would  not  do  so,  as  Dallaus  and  Schefflen,  w  ere  fined  twenty 
ricksthalers.  The  Elector  made  November,  1625,  the 
limit  for  all  Reformed  ministers  either  to  leave  or  become 
Catholics.  Two  hundred  and  thirty  lost  their  places. 
Many  of  them  found  places  in  Zweibriicken,  others  found 
an  asylum  at  Nuremberg.  Meanwhile  Tilly  had  virtually 
given  the  city  to  the  Jesuits.  They  lived  in  the  castle  like 
princes.  The  famous  Reformed  University  of  Heidelberg 
went  down  with  the  city.  Its  professors  were  dismissed 
in  1622.  In  1626  only  one  student  was  matriculated.  It 
was  reopened  June  16, 1629,  with  Jesuit  professors.  Thus 
the  Reformed  lost  their  most  famous  university  in  Germany. 
One  of  the  a^reatest  losses  was  the  Palatinate  library. 
Since  the  destruction  of  the  library  at  Alexandria,  Egypt, 
by  the  Mohammedans,  few  libraries  had  arisen  as  extensive 
as  this.     For  more  than  a  centurv  the   Electors  had   been 


42      THE  EEFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMAXY. 

collecting  books,  many  of  them  being  rare  manuscripts. 
This  library  was  the  pride  of  the  Palatinate  people.     Even 
before  Heidelberg  was  taken  by  Tilly,  the  Pope  had  had  his 
eye  on  this  library.     He  had  loaned  the  Emperor  100,000 
crowns,  and  the  Emperor  found  that  the  easiest  way  to 
return  this  was  to  present  this  library  to  the  Pope.     So, 
soon  after  the  capture  of  Heidelberg,  Allatius,  the  learned 
secretary   of  the   Vatican,    arrived   at   Heidelberg.      He 
brought  relics  and  rosaries  for  the  soldiers,  and  the  bless- 
ing of  the  Pope  for  Tilly.     He  examined  the  library  and 
selected  the  most  valuable  books — 432  Greek,  1,956  Latin, 
289  Arabic,  Hebrew  and  Syriac,  848  German,  3,542  in 
all.     The  rest  he  gave  to  the  Franciscans  and  Jesuits  at 
Heidelberg.     He  also  went  into  other  libraries,  both  private 
and  public,  and  took  what  he  wanted  as  the  property  of 
the  Pope.     But  he  had  reason  to  feel  the  bitter  hatred  of 
the  people,  who  looked  on  this  as  nothing  less  than  rob- 
bery.    When  he  wanted  to  get  these  books  packed,  nobody 
would  help  him.     No  one  would  give  him  a  place  to  lodge. 
No  carpenter  would  make  boxes  for  him,  no  ropemaker 
would  supply  him  with  rope.     They  would  not  give  him 
even  a  coarse  packing  needle.     All  (cloth,  nails,  string  and 
boards)  had  to  be  brought  from  a  distance,  as   from  Spire 
and  Worms.     He  thus  writes  to  Eome  about  it :  '^  Let  me 
get  away  from  here,  from  these  enemies  of  the  Holy  Father, 
who,  when  they  see  me,  look  on  me  as  a  wild  animal,  a 
bear,  a  lion."     However,  when  Tilly  returned,  January  14, 


PERSECUTIONS    OF    THE    REFORMED.  43 

he  made  requisition  on  the  people  for  Allatius'  needs. 
And  finally  in  February  Allatius  left  Heidelberg  with  50 
wagons  loaded  with  196  chests  of  books,  guarded  by 
60  soldiers.  They  were  carried  over  the  Alps  to  Rome, 
where  they  filled  thirty  library  cases  in  the  Vatican.  The 
next  Elector  tried  very  hard  in  1663  to  have  this  library 
returned,  but  in  vain.  When  Napoleon  took  Rome  in 
1797,  26  Greek  and  12  Latin  books  were  taken  to  Paris. 
These,  together  with  852  others,  were  returned  to  Heidel- 
berg by  the  peace  of  1815.  When  the  university  celebrated 
its  500th  anniversary  a  few  years  ago,  the  Pope  kindly  (?) 
sent  a  catalogue  of  the  library,  but  was  careful  not  to 
return  any  of  the  books. 

The  persecutions  of  the  Reformed  increased.  Having 
driven  out  the  ministers,  the  government  now  proceeded  to 
compel  the  people  to  become  Catholic.  On  May  13,  1627, 
all  the  citizens  of  Heidelberg  were  summoned  to  the  city 
hall  and  commanded  to  return  to  Rome.  They  refused  to 
do  so,  whole  trades  declaring  that  they  would  give  up  their 
property  and  everything,  before  they  would  give  up  their 
Reformed  faith.  Thousands  of  them  emigrated  to  other 
lands,  while  Catholics  came  in  to  fill  their  places.  The 
Catholic  Elector  of  Bavaria  ordered  them  to  become  Catholic 
or  emigrate  by  September  26,  1628,  and  if  they  emigrated, 
their  property  was  confiscated.  As  a  result  of  these  perse- 
cutions, when  the  Edict  of  Restitution  appeared  in  1629, 
there  was  nothino;  left  in  the  Palatinate  to  restore  to  the 


44  THE    REFOEMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Romanists,  for  they  had  taken  everything  already.  The 
Reformed  had  lost  their  ministers,  university  and  churches. 
The  wonder  is  that  the  Church  was  not  blotted  out.  Their 
steadfastness  to  the  Reformed  faith  under  such  trials  should 
be^an  example  to  us  and  make  it  doubly  dear  to  us,  their 
descendents. 

But  now  matters  took  a  different  turn.  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus,  the  "  Northern  Lion,"  the  hero  of  the  war,  entered 
Germany.  He  had  at  one  time  been  a  suitor  for  the  hand 
of  the  beautiful  Electress  Elizabeth  of  the  Palatinate,  Fred- 
erick's wife.  And  it  has  been  suggested  that  he  entered  on 
his  campaigns  in  Germany  out  of  chivalrous  attachment  to 
her.  But  far  more  likely  is  it  that  he  saw  with  a  states- 
man's eye  that  the  downfall  of  Protestantism  in  Germany 
meant  the  destruction  of  Protestantism  in  Sweden,  yes  in 
Europe.  And  therefore  he  entered  on  the  war  to  save 
Protestantism  as  well  as  himself.  As  early  as  1620  he 
wanted  to  support  Frederick  in  Bohemia,  and  had  sent 
some  cannon  to  him.  He  even  thought  of  forming  a  Prot- 
estant Confederation  of  all  nations,  but  his  Polish  wars 
prevented  him.  He  landed  at  Usedom,  June  24, 1630,  and 
began  his  triumphal  march  across  Germany.  But  the 
Palatinate  did  not  see  his  presence  until  December,  1631. 
On  December  16  he  crossed  the  Rhine  at  Oppenheim  with 
four  hundred  men  in  the  face  of  a  severe  fire  from  the 
enemy.  When  his  army  had  crossed,  they  sang  the  hymn  : 
''  Aus   Meines  Herzens  Grunde."     This  crossing   of  the 


VICTORIES   OF   THE   SWEDES.  45 

Swedes  was  commemorated  by  a  column,  having  on  it  the 
crowned  and  sword  equipped  lion  of  Sweden,  which  was 
still  standing  about  fifty  years  ago.  The  arrival  of  the 
Swedes  led  the  Palatines  to  rise  against  their  hated  and 
cruel  oppressors.  For  Gustavus  did  not  allow  his  troops 
to  plunder,  as  the  Spaniards  and  Austrians  had  so  shame- 
fully done.  He  preserved  strict  discipline.  He  paid  for 
everything  he  took.  It  is  true,  he  taxed  the  people,  but 
then  he  protected  their  property.  Another  reason  why 
they  welcomed  the  Swedes,  was  because  they  were  Protest- 
ants. Many  of  the  Palatines,  as  the  Count  of  Beldenz, 
entered  the  Swedish  army  and  raised  troops  for  it.  While 
everything  was  going  towards  the  Swedes,  everything 
seemed  to  be  falling  away  from  the  Spaniards.  Duke 
Bernard  of  Weimar  suddenly  appeared  before  Manheim,  De- 
cember 29,  with  three  hundred  soldiers.  The  garrison 
mistook  his  forces  for  the  Austrians,  and  admitted  them 
into  the  town,  only  to  find  out  their  mistake  too  late.  The 
Spaniards  in  the  garrison  were  cut  down,  while  the  Ger- 
mans went  over  to  the  Swedes.  By  the  end  of  the  winter 
the  whole  of  the  Palatinate  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Swedes . 
except  Heidelberg  and  Frankenthal.  Under  Swedish  rule 
the  wounds  of  the  past  twelve  years  began  to  heal.  The 
Romish  priests  were  driven  out  and  the  Protestant  minis- 
ters returned  to  their  sheperdless  flocks.  Foreign  churches, 
especially  the  Scotch  Reformed  or  Presbyterian,  raised 
large  sums  of  money   for  these  suffering  Palatines.     At 


46       THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

Heidelberg  tlie  Church  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  given  back 
to  the  Reformed.  The  Reformed  consistory  Avas  reorgan- 
ized, July  6,  1633.  The  Reformed  university  was 
reopened  with  Henry  Alting  and  Crollius  as  theological 
professors,  but  before  they  arrived  at  Heidelberg,  all  bright 
hopes  were  destroyed  by  the  battle  of  Nordlingen. 

When  Elector  Frederick  heard  that  the  Palatinate, 
after  nine  years  of  oppression,  was  again  free,  he  could  not 
stay  away  from  it  any  longer.  He  hastened  to  Gustavus, 
although  he  had  to  borrow  money  from  the  Dutch  govern- 
ment, while  Hesse-Cassel  loaned  him  his  escort.  To  his 
mind,  Gustavus  could  do  nothing  more  just  or  important, 
than  to  restore  the  Palatinate  to  him,  its  rightful  heir. 
So  with  the  dignity  of  a  King  he  entered  Frankford  on 
the  Main,  February  10.*  Gustavus  treated  him  as  if  he 
were  a  real  King,  instead  of  an  exiled  prince.  On  the  first 
day  he  dined  with  Gustavus,  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse- 
Darmstadt,  "  the  Judas  of  the  war,"  omitted  giving  Fred- 
erick his  title  as  King,  but  Gustavus  sternly  rebuked  him. 
Frederick  followed  Gustavus  in  his  victorious  march 
southward  to  Munich.  What  must  have  been  his  feelings 
there,  when  he  stood  in  the  palace  of  his  enemy  and  rival. 
Elector  Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  who  had  so  unjustly  sup- 
planted him.  Just  ten  years  before,  Maximilian  had 
entered   his   palace   at   Heidelberg,  and   most   ruthlessly 

-:-  Hereafter  we  will  speak  of  Frankford  on  the  Main  merely  as  Frankford. 
When  Frankford  on  the  Oder  is  meant,  we  will  speak  of  it  as  Frankford  on 
the  Oder. 


GUSTAVUS   AND    FREDERICK.  47 

robbed  it.  Maximilian  had  literally  taken  half  of  the  Pala- 
tinate library  to  Munich.  But  Frederick  shows  his  rare 
self-control  and  his  forgiving  spirit  by  returning  good  for 
evil.  He  might  have  robbed  Maximilian's  capital,  as 
Maximilian  had  robbed  him,  but  he  did  not.  This  manly 
forbearance  created  surprise.  Still,  while  he  did  not  revenge 
himself  on  his  enemy,  he  pressed  his  claims  on  Gustavus 
for  the  Palatinate.  Gustavus  entered  into  negotiations 
with  him.  But  the  claims  of  Gustavus  seemed  to  be  too 
hard  to  Frederick.  He  demanded,  first,  that  Frederick 
should  pay  all  the  costs  of  the  aid  the  Swedes  had  given 
him,  (this  Frederick  felt  his  impoverished  land  could  not 
do) ;  second,  that  Swedish  garrisons  be  placed  in  all  the 
main  towns  of  the  Palatinate  and  kept  there  at  Frederick's 
expense ;  third,  that  Frederick  should  give  the  Lutherans 
religious  liberty ;  fourth,  that  Frederick  should  recognize 
Gustavus  as  his  permanent  protector.  But  this  would  vir- 
tually make  Frederick  a  vassal  of  the  Swedish  throne,  and 
Frederick  felt  that,  as  a  German  prince,  he  could  not 
pledge  himself  to  a  foreign  ruler.  Gustavus  has  been 
charged  with  ambition — that  he  hoped  to  found  a  Swedish 
empire  in  Germany.  His  treatment  of  Frederick  would 
seem  to  look  in  that  direction.  These  negotiations  were 
in  progress  when  Gustavus  was  killed  at  Lutzen,  Novem- 
ber 16,  1632.  When  Frederick  heard  this  he  felt  as  if  his 
last  hope  was  destroyed.  Gustavus'  death  hastened  Fred- 
erick's.    He  had  already  been  suffering  from  a  fever,  and 


48  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

he  died  November  29  (just  13  days  after  Gustavus),  at 
Mayence,  heart-broken  by  his  sufferings  and  disappoint- 
ments.    So  perverse  were  his  fortunes  that  the  Spanish 
commander    had    promised    to    surrender    Frankenthal 
on   November    12,    but   he   postponed   it   till   the    26th, 
and  Frederick's  last  moments  were  not  permitted  to  be 
brightened  by  that  surrender.     He  was  a  kind  father  and 
devotedly  attached  to  the  Reformed   faith.     He  suffered 
many  afflictions.     First   his   land  was  taken  away  and 
afterward  his  son  in  a  very   sad  manner.     For  when  he 
was  in  Holland  this  darling  son,  his  heir,  a  boy  of  15,  had 
plead  with  him  to  take  him  to  see  the  Dutch  fleet,  as  it 
returned  from  the  capture  of  the  silver  fleet  of  the  Span- 
iards at  Matanzas,  1628,  with  its  twelve  millions  of  silver. 
Unfortunately  their  yacht  collided  with  a  larger  vessel  and 
sank.     Frederick  clinging  to  a  rope  with  great  difficulty 
reached  a  boat  sent  to  his  assistance,  but  his  son  sank 
before  his  eyes  crying  :  "  Save  me,  father,  save  me.''     And 
yet  in  spite  of  his  many  misfortunes,  Frederick  became 
the  ancestor  of  kings,  the  present  royal  families  of  Eng- 
land, Germany  and  Austria  being  descended  from  him. 
Thus  after  years  of  wandering,  his  body  at  last  found  rest 
in  the  grave.     As  his  oldest  son,  Charles  Lewis,  was  not 
yet  of  age,  the  Count  of  Simmern  as  guardian  completed 
the  negotiations  of  the  Palatinate  with  the  Swedes  in  1633, 
by  which  the  Palatinate  and  its  income  went  to  the  Swedes 
(but  they  were  to  return  it  to  Charles  Lewis) ;  the  Luth- 


RENEWAL   OF   SUFFERINGS.  49 

eran  religion  was  to  be  allowed  free  exercise,  and  the  Palat- 
inate made  a  permanent  alliance  with  the  Swedes.  As  a 
result  of  this  treaty,  the  Swedes  began  to  re-conquer  the 
Palatinate.  Dilsberg  was  stormed  and  taken  on  January 
27,  1633.  On  May  5  the  Swedish  colonel,  Abel  Moda, 
entered  the  city  of  Heidelberg  and  took  it  without  a 
stroke.  On  the  19th  of  May  he  bombarded  the  castle  from 
Wolfesbrunnen  above  the  castle.  And  on  the  26th  the 
people  saw  with  joy  those  who  had  oppressed  them 
so  severely  for  ten  years  depart.  Thus  the  Palatinate 
had  rest  for  about  three  years  under  Swedish  rule. 

But  worse  days  were  to  come.  The  disastrous  defeat 
of  the  Swedes  at  Nordlingen,  September  6,  1634,  broke 
their  power.  They  became  too  weak  to  protect  the  Palat- 
inate. And  when  they  did  protect,  their  protection  was 
often  oppression.  For  although  during  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus'  time  the  Swedes  had  kept  up  strict  discipline,  after 
his  death  this  was  lost,  and  often  the  Swedish  army  degen- 
erated into  mere  hordes  of  plundering  soldiers.  To  add 
to  the  suiferings  of  the  Palatinate,  the  Bavarian  army  came 
back  with  its  terrible  cruelties.  And  between  the  two 
armies  the  previous  sufferings  of  the  Palatinate  were 
light.  "Now,"  says  Rusdorf,  "the  Palatinate  received 
extreme  unction,"  for  the  cup  of  the  Palatinate  was  not 
yet  full.  In  1635  the  fatal  peace  of  Prague  decoyed 
many  German  princes  from  the  Swedes,  but  at  tlie  same 
time  shut  out  Frederick's  children   from  their   rights  as 


50       THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

rulers  of  the  Palatinate.  The  Swedes  Avere  forced  to  retire 
before  the  army  of  20,000  under  the  Austrian  General 
Gallas.  As  they  retired,  it  became  a  question  what  to  do 
with  the  body  of  King  Frederick.  His  heart  w^as  in  the 
Church  at  Oppenheim,  his  body  unburied  in  Frankenthal. 
As  he  died  an  outlaw,  the  Swedes  were  afraid  to  leave  it 
behind,  lest  it  would  suffer  indignities  in  the  liands  of  the 
Emperor's  forces.  Poor  Frederick,  an  evil  fate  seemed  to 
follow  him,  living  or  dead.  As  if  he  had  enough  trouble 
in  his  life,  his  body  had  to  suffer  after  his  death.  His 
friends  had  it  taken  away  in  a  wagon.  Owing  to  the 
roughness  of  the  roads,  it  was  jolted  about  and  sometimes 
pitched  out  of  the  wagons.  At  last  it  found  a  resting 
place  at  Metz,  in  the  tomb  of  a  rich  citizen.  From  there 
it  was  taken  to  Sedan,  but  in  the  excitement  of  the  times 
its  burial  place  was  lost. 

The  sad  fate  of  its  ruler  was  a  faint  type  of  the  sadder 
fate  of  his  land  during  the  latter  part  of  the  war.  It 
became  the  scene  of  marching  armies.  Where  before  one 
army  had  devastated  it,  now  two  ravaged  it.  First  the 
Swedes  came  and  drove  out  the  Spaniards.  Then  the 
Bavarians  came  and  drove  out  the  Swedes.  In  the  vary- 
ing fortunes  of  the  war,  Neustadt,  Alzei  and  Oppenheim 
changed  hands  three  times  in  four  months.  Heidelberg 
surrendered,  July  27,  1635,  to  the  Bavarians.  The  gar- 
rison at  Manheim  left  the  city  because  they  could  get  no 
help.     Brave   Frankenthal  finally   surrendered,   October 


SUFFERINGS  OF  THE  REFORMED.         51 

6,  1635,  after  a  siege  of  two  months.  The  previous 
occupation  of  the  Palatinate  by  the  Bavarians  had 
been  bad  enough,  but  this  was  ten-fold  worse.*  The 
suffering  of  the  land  became  worse  and  worse.  The  armies 
followed  each  other,  each  taking  what  the  other  left. 
Friends  often  turned  out  worse  than  foes,  until  the  poor 
people  seemed  to  have  no  friends  any  more.  They  were 
so  constantly  plundered  that  they  lost  hope  and  would  not 
plant  any  more  seed.     Then  famine  came.     The  soldiers 

■•'•  An  eye  witness  thus  somewhat  facetiously  describes  the  plundering  of 
a  house  :  What  they  could  not  take  with  them,  they  destroyed.  Some  stuck 
through  the  hay  and  straw  with  they  swords,  as  if  they  had  not  had  pigs 
enough  already  to  stick  ;  some  shook  the  feathers  out  of  the  beds  and  filled 
them  with  bacon  meat  or  furniture,  as  if  that  would  be  comfortable  to  sleep  on. 
Others  knocked  in  the  doors  and  the  windows,  as  if  they  had  come  to  foretell 
an  eternal  summer.  Beds,  dishes,  chairs,  benches  they  burned ;  kettles  they 
broke  up.  They  gave  the  boy  a  Swedish  bath.  For  they  bound  and  threw 
the  boy  on  the  earth.  One  forced  open  his  mouth  with  a  piece  of  wood, 
another  brought  impure  water  from  a  pool  and  poured  it  until  he  lay  stretched 
out  stiff  as  if  dead.  In  vain  did  he  close  his  throat  at  first  against  this.  He 
had  to  breathe  and  so  the  water  went  down  with  his  breath.  At  last  the 
breath  failed,  the  bowels  became  distended,  the  eyes  distorted,  the  ears  swelled 
and  through  the  nose  and  moath  some  of  the  water  bubbled.  They  then 
sprang  on  him  with  their  feet  producing  intolerable  pain,  till  the  water,  mixed 
with  blood,  camo  forth  from  every  ap  rture  of  the  body.  Many  died  under 
such  treatment.  Others  survived  it  but  a  short  time,  felt  an  indescribable 
weakness  of  the  body,  became  yellow  in  face  and  trembled  in  all  their  limbs 
until  the  hand  of  death  at  last  brought  rest  to  them.  The  soldiers  screwed  up 
the  farmers  by  their  thumbs.  They  put  a  farmer  into  his  oven  and  almost 
roasted  him,  so  as  to  force  money  from  him.  Each  band  of  soldiers  had  its 
own  invention  to  torment  the  inhabitants,  so  as  to  extort  money  from  them. 
They  took  one  of  the  boys,  bound  him  hand  and  foot,  rubbed  his  feet  with  rock 
salt  and  brought  a  goat  to  lick  it  off.  This  so  tickled  him  that  he  almost 
burst  asunder  with  laughter  and  finally  almost  lost  his  reason  through  it.  Of 
the  terrible  indignities  to  women  this  is  not  the  place  to  speak.  Often  they 
had  to  suffer  loss  of  both  virtue  and  life. 


52  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

ate  up  what  fruit  there  was,  and  the  poor  people  had  noth- 
ing. They  were  compelled  to  eat  grass  and  leaves  of  trees, 
yes,  dead  animals.  The  graveyards  had  to  be  watched, 
lest  the  newly  dead  would  be  stolen  for  food.*  And  now 
pestilence  began  to  add  its  horrors  to  famine.  Often  in  the 
villages  there  were  not  enough  living  to  bury  the  dead. 
'^  The  land,''  says  Eusdorf,  "  was  entirely  ruined,''  as  fam- 
ine, murder  and  plague  decimated  the  population. f  The 
commissioner  of  the  Emperor  inhumanly  declared  that  all 
had  better  starve  than  hinder  the  authority  of  the  Emperor. 
No  wonder  that  thousands  of  the  inhabitants  emigrated  to 
more  favored  lands.  The  population  greatly  decreased. 
The  people  in  their  poverty  lived  in  huts,  and  often  became 
rough  and  wild.  In  1636  there  were  only  200  farmers  in 
in  all  the  rich  Palatinate.  There  were  more  wolves  than 
men.  A  student  traveling  from  Heidelberg  to  Spire,  had 
to  go  armed  for  fear  of  Avolves.  Many  villages  were  empty 
and  in  ruins,  and  the  fields  were  uncultivated  and  over- 
grown with  thorns  and  weeds.  Of  Manheim  nothing 
remained  but  the  walls,  the  city  hall  and  some  cellars. 

But  it  was  the  Reformed  who  suffered  most  of  all. 
The  Elector  of  Bavaria  issued  a  decree,  Nov.  15, 1635,  that 
all  Calvinistic  ministers  must  leave  the  land.      Thus  the 

*  An  eye  witness  says  that  in  one  place  he  saw  crows,  dogs  and  men  feast- 
ing together  on  the  body  of  a  dead  horse.  Worse  stories  were  told  of  parents 
being  driven  by  starvation  to  eat  their  own  children. 

f  See  a  German  novel  by  Horn  entitled,  "  Johannes  Scherer  oder  Tonsor 
der  Wanderpfarrer  in  der  Unterpfalz." 


SUFFERINGS  OF  THE  REFORMED.         5S 

Reformed  people  were  left  shepherdless  in  the  midst  of  their 
sufferings.  Their  children  were  unbaptized,  their  dead 
buried  Avithout  religious  ceremonies,  and  the  sick  had  none 
to  pray  with  them.  The  only  beautiful  scene  in  connection 
with  this  dark  picture  is  the  liberality  of  the  other 
Reformed  Churches  to  their  oppressed  sister  Church  of  the 
Palatinate.  Switzerland  became  an  asylum,  but  still  many 
of  the  refugees  died  from  exposure  and  want.  It  is  said  a 
thousand  of  them  died  at  Basle  in  1635.  When  the  Bavar- 
ian gen^eral,  John  of  Werth,  became  leader  of  the  Bavarian 
army  in  1634,  he  kept  six  Reformed  ministers  in  prison, 
because  they  could  not  raise  the  money  sufficient  to  pay  the 
ransom  he  required.  The  protocol  of  the  Reformed  consis- 
tory who  had  fled  from  Heidelberg  to  Frankenthal,  reveals 
the  great  danger  of  the  Reformed  ministers,  Avho  only 
saved  their  lives  by  flight.  On  January  16,  1635,  a  depu- 
tation went  to  Switzerland  to  ask  for  aid.  In  England 
much  money  was  collected,  especially  through  a  pastor  of 
Heidelberg,  Rulitz,  Avho  had  won  the  confidence  of  dis- 
tinguished English  families.  They  sent  to  the  Palatinate 
at  the  close  of  1635  about  100,000  gulden.  Indeed,  after 
all  these  sufferings,  without  pastors,  churches  or  friends,  it 
is  a  wonder  that  any  Reformed  Church  continued  to  exist. 
Finally  in  1648  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  closed  this 
awful  war.  The  Palatinate  was  given  back  to  its  rightful 
owner.  Elector  Charles  Lewis,  the  son  of  Frederick  V.,  and 
a  new  electorate  was  created  for   him,   the   old   electorate 


54  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

remaining  with  Bavaria.*  The  Emperor  agreed  to  pay  to 
Frederick's  widow  20,000  thalers  and  to  each  of  Charles 
Lewis'  brothers  400,000  thalers.  The  peace  also  gave 
religious  liberty  to  the  Lutherans  in  the  Palatinate.  But 
the  peace  did  not  make  the  normal  year  for  the  Palatinate 
the  same  as  for  the  rest  of  Germany.  This  indefiniteness 
as  to  the  year  was  afterwards  taken  advantage  of  by  the 
•Catholic  Electors  against  the  Reformed. 

-••  The  Electoral  College  now  stood  five  Catholics  to  three  Protestants. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  III. 

THE    RAVAGE    OF    ZWEIBRUECKEN. 

Southwest  of  the  Rhine  Palatinate  lay  Zweibriicken 
(Deuxponts — two  bridges),  also  governed  by  a  branch  of 
the  Palatinate  family.  The  Duke  of  Zweibriicken  was  a 
cousin  of  the  Elector  of  the  Palatinate  and  one  of  the  lesser 
princes  of  that  line.  When  Frederick  left  the  Palatinate 
to  go  to  Bohemia,  he  left  the  Duke  of  Zweibriicken,  John 
IL,  as  his  governor  in  the  Palatinate  in  his  absence.  When 
Frederick  was  defeated  at  White  Mountain,  the  Duke 
resigned  that  position,  and  hoped,  by  taking  a  neutral  posi- 
tion, to  save  his  land  from  the  ravages  of  war.  But  he  soon 
found  that  neutrality  would  not  save  him.  For  three 
things  made  him  hateful  to  the  Emperor\s  forces — he 
belonged  to  the  Palatinate  family,  he  had  been  a  member 
of  the  Protestant  Union,  and  had  also  been  governor  for 
Elector  Frederick  Y.  So  General  Spinola  entered  his  land 
with  the  Spanish  armies,  who  ravaged  parts  of  it,  as  Meis- 
enheim,  Bergzabern  and  Annweiler.  The  Reformed  min- 
isters at  the  command  of  their  prince  held  many  days  of 
prayer  to  God  for  mercy  on  their  land.  At  Xunschweiler 
the  people  fled  to  the  woods,  and  their  pastor,  Exter,  was 
murdered.     Still  the  land  did  not  suffer  in  the  early  part 


56      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

of  the  war  as  did  the  neighboring  Palatinate.  Many 
Reformed  ministers  driven  out  of  the  Palatinate  found  posi- 
tions here.  The  Duke  wanted  to  replace  the  Heidelberg 
University  after  it  was  closed,  by  having  Cellarius,  a  refu- 
gee from  Heidelberg,  give  theological  lectures  in  the  gym- 
nasium at  Hornbach.  How^ever,  the  Edict  of  Restitution 
in  1629  affected  Zweibriicken,  especially  the  abbey  of  Horn- 
bach.  This  had  been  a  Benedictine  cloister,  but  was  now 
a  prosperous  Reformed  gymnasium  with  many  students. 
The  Duke  protested  against  giving  it  up  to  the  Catholics, 
but  the  troops  of  the  Emperor  came  in  and  drove  out  the 
Reformed  pastor,  Wernigk,  from  the  parsonage.  He  how- 
ever remained  in  the  town,  hoping  that  the  enemy  would 
soon  leave.  But  the  Catholic  authorities  would  brook  no 
opposition.  They  Avent  with  soldiers  to  his  house,  took  him 
out  of  bed,  and  wdth  his  schoolmaster  carried  him  off  as  a 
rebel  to  the  fort  at  Madenburg.  Both  were  thrown  into 
prison,  and  were  not  released  until  they  had  promised  they 
Avould  not  return  again  to  minister  to  the  Reformed  people 
of  Hornbach.  The  troops  also  drove  away  the  Reformed 
professors  and  students  there,  and  the  gymnasium  on  which 
the  Duke  had  bestowed  so  much  care,  was  broken  up.  But 
the  students  and  professors  Avent  to  Zweibriicken,  where 
the  Duke  opened  the  gymnasium,  April  20, 1631.*  As  the 
gymnasium  had  lost  its  income  with  the  loss  of  Hornbach, 


*  It  was  located  in  the  Mint  building,  which  formerly  was  used  as  a  Re- 
formed school  and  stood  next  to  the  Church. 


GUSTAVUS    BRINGS    RELII<:F.  57 

the  Duke  appealed  to  Reformed  Churches  in  other  lands 
and  received  liberal  responses.  He  himself  set  an  example 
of  liberality.  He  not  only  supported  it  privately  for  a 
year,  but  went  up  and  down  his  land  raising  money  for  it 
among  the  churches. 

The  coming  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  stopped  the  further 
progress  of  the  Edict  of  Restitution.  When  Gustavus 
Adolphus  arrived  in  the  Palatinate,  December,  1631,  the 
Duke  came  out  from  his  neutrality.  Neutrality  had  not 
saved  his  land  from  devastation,  so  he  joined  the  Swedes. 
For  a  few  years  the  land  had  rest.  The  cloister  of  Horn- 
bach  was  given  back  to  the  Reformed  and  the  gymnasium 
reopened  there.  But  when  the  Swedes  were  so  terribly 
defeated  at  Nordlingen,  terrible  times  returned,  far  worse 
than  anything  the  land  had  suffered  before.  Because  the 
Duke  had  joined  the  Swedes,  and  his  son  had  gone  so  far 
as  to  raise  troops  for  the  Swedish  army,  the  land  must  now 
suffer  severely  from  the  imperial  forces.*  The  Swedes  and 
French  were  compelled  to  retire  before  the  Austrians  and 
Bavarians.  The  Duke  felt  the  extreme  danger  of  his  land, 
and  ordered  a  day  of  prayer  to  be  observed  in  all  the 
Reformed  churches.  The  cruel  General  Gallas  came  with 
his  imperial  army  who  acted  more  like  brutes  than  men. 

*  This  association  with  the  Swedes  did  not  end  with  the  war.  Before  a 
century  was  over,  a  Duke  of  Zweibriicken  sat  on  the  Swedish  throne,  and  the 
King  of  Sweden  was  also  ruler  of  Zweibriicken.  The  great  Charles  XII.  of 
Sweden  was  of  the  Zweibriicken  family,  and  was  also  Luke  of  Zweibriicken  as 
well  as  King  of  Sweden. 

5 


58      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

Duke  John  II.  of  Zweibriicken  Avas  compelled  to  flee  with 
his  family  to  Metz  in  France,  Adiere  he  died,  weighed 
down  with  sorrow  for  the  sufferings  of  his  land.  The 
year  1635  was  the  most  awful  they  had  yet  experienced. 
The  whole  country  was  overrun  with  wild  hordes  of 
Austrians,  and  only  two  places  remained  fortified  against 
them — Kusel  and  Zweibriicken.  The  enemy  first  attacked 
Kusel.  This  town  had  no  garrison,  but  the  brave  inhab- 
itants determined  to  defend  it  to  the  last.  As  powder  was 
scarce,  they  carried  great  stones  up  on  the  walls  to  throw 
down  on  the  enemy.  From  their  walls  they  could  see  the 
enemy  tearing  up  the  ripe  harvests  and  burning  the  neigh- 
boring villages.  It  was  a  time  of  terror.  By  day  the  air 
was  filled  with  alarms  and  by  night  with  fear  of  fire.  The 
enemy  finally  began  negotiations  with  the  citizens  who  so 
bravely  defended  the  city.  They  assured  the  citizens  that 
they  wanted  to  go  away,  and  offered  to  leave  some  of  their 
men  as  hostages  that  the  city  would  not  be  attacked  again. 
The  brave  citizens  gladly  accepted  this.  When  the  enemy 
had  gone,  they  left  the  walls  and  returned  to  their  homes. 
Sweet  was  their  sleep  that  night,  but  terrible  their  waking. 
The  enemy  were  on  the  walls  and  had  opened  the  gates 
before  they  were  discovered.  And  now  began  a  scene  that 
beggars  description,  as  the  (*ruel  Croats  ravaged  the  town, 
so  that  by  morning  there  was  nothing  left  but  rubbish  and 
ashes.     The  fe^v  who  survived  were  robbed  of  their  cloth- 


THE   SIEGE    OF    ZWEIBRUECKEN.  ;>9 

ing,  and  the  wounded  stole  away  in  the  darkness  to  Lich- 
tenberg.  Kaiserlautern  wa§  also  taken.  Almost  all  of  its 
(1,500)  inhabitants  were  put  to  death  by  the  Croats,  and 
the  city  was  so  destroyed  that  the  streets  became  grown 
over  with  grass. 

\Yhat  happened  to  Kusel  was  the  introduction  to  what 
was  to  happen  at  Zweibriicken,  the  capital  of  the  land. 
Gallas  appeared  before  that  city,  July  17,  1635.  It  had 
as  its  commander  the  brave  Swedish  Colonel  Rose,  Duke 
Bernard  of  Weimar's  special  friend.  There  was  a  small 
Swedish  garrison  to  whose  help  the  citizens  nobly  ral- 
lied. The  Reformed  pastors,  brave  Bachman  and  Wentz, 
aided  in  encouraging  the  people.  The  soldiers  went  on  the 
walls,  while  the  old  men  and  women  assembled  in  the 
Reformed  church  for  prayer.  The  city  was  well  fortified. 
But  an  unfortunate  event  occurred  which  almost  led  to  its 
fall.  The  palace  and  castle  of  the  Duke  were  located  just 
outside  of  the  city  wall,  but  were  protected  by  a  strong 
moat.  In  this  the  citadel  of  the  city  a  new  danger  appeared. 
Through  the  carelessness  of  a  soldier  fire  broke  out. 
Gallas  saw  his  opportunity  and  at  once  ordered  an  attack 
on  the  city.  The  citizens  had  to  fight  both  the  foe  and 
fire  at  the  same  time.  They  made  a  magnificent  defence, 
and  put  out  the  fire  and  drove  away  the  enemy.  But 
when  it  was  all  over  they  found  themselves  in  a  deplorable 
plight  through  want  of  powder,  and  were  almost  compelled 
to  surrender.      AVhen  Gallas  sent  word  to  them  demand- 


60      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

ing  their  surrender,  they  held  a  council  and  determined 
that  on  the  morrow  at  8  A.  M.  they  would  give  up  the  city. 
With  trembling  and  praying  the  night  was  spent  and  the 
awful  morning  awaited.  Early  in  the  morning,  however, 
it  was  noticed  that  there  was  an  unusual  commotion  among 
the  enemy  outside.  And  lo,  when  day  broke,  the  enemy 
had  departed,  because  they  had  heard  that  Duke  Bernard 
of  Weimar  was  approaching  to  save  his  friend,  the  brave 
Colonel  Rose.  The  city  was  saved  and  the  people  streamed 
into  the  Reformed  church  to  thank  God  for  their  deliver- 
ance. But  their  season  of  rest  was  brief,  for  in  September 
following  Gallas  again  returned  with  his  army.  Unfortu- 
nately the  commander  of  the  city  Avas  not  the  brave  Rose, 
but  a  Frenchman  who  became  so  frightened  that  he  sur- 
rendered without  attempting  any  defence.  Terrible  were 
the  results  on  the  Reformed  inhabitants.  Gallas  left  as 
commander  of  the  city  the  cruel  Moriame,  who  allowed  all 
kinds  of  lawlessness.  One  hundred  and  thirty  buildings 
in  that  little  city,  among  them  the  city  hall,  w^ere  destroyed. 
The  castle  was  plundered,  the  armory  blown  up.  At  first 
the  churches  Avere  not  touched,  but  soon  the  soldiers  broke 
into  the  beautiful  Alexander  Reformed  church  by  forcing 
an  entrance  in  seven  places.  In  a  very  short  time  they 
had  broken  out  the  Avindows  and  broken  up  the  benches. 
In  its  crypt  many  citizens  had  stored  their  A^aluables, 
thinking  that  the  church  AA^ould  be  spared.  The  soldiers 
tore  open  the  250  chests  hidden  tliere,  and  great  A\'as  the 


THE   RAVAGE   OF   ZWEIBRUECKEN.  61 

spoil.  The  library  in  the  church  was  torn  open  and  val- 
uable historical  documents  scattered  around.  Then  they 
went  to  the  sepulchres  of  the  Dukes  and  tore  off  the  cop- 
per epitaphs,  and  robbed  and  scattered  the  dead  bodies. 
They  found  the  heart  of  the  Princess  of  Rohan  (which  she 
had  ordered  to  be  placed  there  beside  her  sister,  the  wife 
of  Duke  John  I.  of  Zweibriicken)  and  then  threw  it 
out  from  the  cellar.  The  soldiers  went  to  the  roof  and 
tore  off  the  lead,  so  as  to  make  bullets  with  it.  They  ^\*ent 
into  the  houses  of  the  citizens,  digging  up  the  fire-places, 
seeking  for  hidden  gold.  Fi  eld  and  cellar  were  searched 
for  valuables.  They  even  searched  the  women's  hair 
and  the  men's  beards  for  money.  Great  terror  seized  the 
people.  No  one  went  out  on  the  street.  No  Reformed 
church  service  was  held. 

While  these  things  were  happening  at  Zweibriicken,' 
they  were  more  than  equalled  at  Hornbach.  The  com- 
mander there  was  a  special  favorite  of  Moriame  because  of 
his  loose  habits.  He  first  demanded  money  of  the  inhabi- 
tants. When  he  had  obtained  that,  he  destroyed  many  of 
their  houses.  The  cloister  which  had  been  the  gymnasium, 
was  almost  entirely  in  ruins.  The  Reformed  church  was 
turned  into  a  stable,  the  cloister  library  was  scattered  be- 
neath the  hoofs  of  his  horses.  The  first  pastor,  a  son  of 
Pantaleon  Candidiis,  who  had  brought  the  country  over  to 
the  Reformed  faith,  faithfully  remained  with  his  people, 
although  he  did  not  dare  pre«ch  to  them.     The  captain 


62  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

put  him  under  arrest.  ]N'o  complaints,  no  prayers,  no 
offers  availed  to  get  him  free.  Amid  the  ridicule  of  the 
soldiers  he  was  cast  into  the  darkest  prison  in  the  city.  In 
a  few  days  he  fell  a  victim  to  the  plague.  When  it  was 
evident  he  would  not  live,  the  commander  allowed  him  to 
be  taken  home  on  promise  of  a  heavy  ransom.  He  was 
carried  home,  but  the  kindest  care  of  his  family  failed  to 
save  his  life.  He  died  on  Christmas,  1635.  Even  after 
his  death  the  captain  oppressed  his  family  most  cruelly,  so 
as  to  get  the  promised  ransom.  He  heartlessly  compelled 
the  son  to  dance  before  him,  although  the  son's  heart  was 
sad  because  of  his  bereavement.  Finally  the  town  became 
so  terribly  devastated  through  the  violence  of  the  soldiers, 
that  it  could  not  support  the  soldiers  any  more,  and  they 
had  to  leave.* 

Famine  soon  followed  these  terrible  sufferings.  The 
widow  of  the  Reformed  pastor  at  Rieschweiler  died  of 
hunger  after  seeing  her  five  children   starve  before  her. 

*  What  happened  in  the  towns  was  repeated  with  ten-fold  horror  in  the 
country.  The  inhabitants  of  Bergzabern  fled  to  the  Vosges  mountains,  where 
they  lived  in  holes  in  the  ground  or  huts  under  the  overhanging  rocks.  They 
kept  watch  continually,  for  if  discovered,  they  were  murdered  and  robbed. 
Their  persecutions  were  various.  Here  the  enemy  plunged  men  into  the  deep 
spring  or  brook,  and  there  threw  them  oflf  the  houses  or  rocks.  Here  they 
burned  parts  of  their  legs  with  indescribable  agony  or  stuck  a  red  hot  iron 
into  their  open  mouth.  There  they  drove  iron  nails  into  the  shoulders  or  cut 
the  soles  of  the  feet  open  and  poured  melted  lead  into  the  cuts.  Sometimes 
they  tied  the  people  two  and  two  and  hung  them  like  a  kettle  over  the  fire, 
and  left  them  to  burn  or  to  die  of  starvation.  Others  they  would  fasten  over 
a  hearth  fire  by  a  chain,  and  place  a  stick  between  their  legs  and  arms.  Then 
they  would  seat  themselves  opposite  each  other  and  rock  the  unhappy  one 
over  the  flames  until  death  freed  the  martyr  from  their  barbarities. 


THE  SUFFERINGS  OF  THE  PEOPLE.        63 

They  ate  grass,  roots,  burdock,  nettles,  mistletoe  and  other 
plants  without  fat  or  salt  to  add  to  their  taste.*  Plague 
followed  on  the  heels  of  famine.  Religious  services  were 
given  up.  Most  of  the  pastors  had  either  died  or  been 
compelled  to  leave.  The  Duke  ordered  the  few  remain- 
ing pastors  to  go  through  the  districts  to  comfort  and 
strengthen  the  sufferers  as  far  as  possible.  The  schools 
were  closed  and  the  children  grew  up  ignorant,  Avild  and 
rough.  It  is  said  that  sixty  Reformed  pastors  either  died 
because  of  their  sufferings,  or  were  murdered. 

Finally  in  1644  Duke  Frederick  returned  to  his  land. 
But  what  a  land  !  The  country  was  filled  with  thorns 
and  thistles.  In  many  places  whole  towns  were  deserted, 
not  a  cow,  ox,  goose  or  rooster  was  to  be  found.  At 
Hornbach  the  number  of  citizens  had  become  so  small 
that  they  had  to  stay  within  the  walls  for  fear  of  the  wolves 
who  infested  the  ruins,  even  by  day,  seeking  food.  The 
boundaries  of  properties  could  no  longer  be  found.  Gen- 
erally these  bounderies  were  not  needed,  as  the  neighbors 
had  died.  The  palace  at  Zweibriicken  was  a  ruin,  so  the 
Duke  had  to  live  at  Meisenheim.  Soon,  however,  the  land 
began  to  recover  under  the   blessed  influences  of  peace. 

*  In  winter  their  sufferings  were  the  worst.  All  kinds  of  leather  were 
cooked  and  used  for  food.  Mice  came  in  great  numbers  in  the  barren  fields. 
These  the  famished  inhabitants  gladly  devoured.  Frogs  and  even  toads  were 
eaten.  Carrion  was  sold  and  bought.  Near  Zweibriicken  two  women  got  into 
a  quarrel  over  some  carrion,  and  ended  it  by  the  one  strangling  the  other.  A 
boy  was  caught  roasting  a  part  of  his  dead  sister,  and  a  woman  was  put  to 
death  at  Zweibriicken  for  cannibalism. 


64      THE  KEFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

Churches  and  schools  were  reopened.  Other  Reformed 
lands  raised  money.  Bachman,  the  intrepid  pastor  of 
Zweibrlicken,  traveled  through  Switzerland  and  other 
lands,  and  was  quite  successful  in  raising  funds.  The 
Reformed  pastors  who  were  living  came  back.  Thus 
closed  the  terrible  war,  and  yet  through  it  all  the  Re- 
formed people  were  wonderfully  sustained  by  the  bles- 
sings of  their  faith  and  the  comfort  of  their  Catechism. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  IV. 

THE  PERSECUTIONS  OF  PFALZ  NEUBURG. 

One  of  the  other  Reformed  districts  of  the  Palatinate 
was  Pfalz  Neuburg.  When  the  Duke  of  Pfalz  Neuburg, 
a  Lutheran,  received  the  district  of  Julich  and  Cleve,  near 
Cologne,  they  contained  quite  a  large  Reformed  popula- 
tion. He  went  over  to  Catholicism  in  1614,  and  of  course 
the  Reformed  had  to  endure  many  oppressions.  These 
were  intensified  by  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  when  every 
effort  was  made  by  the  Duke  to  weaken  or  suppress  them. 
In  Julich  twenty  Reformed  congregations  were  destroyed, 
and  in  Berg  twelve,  and  many  congregations  were  forced 
to  give  up  their  churches.  In  twenty-one  churches 
the  Romish  service  was  introduced  by  force.  The  Protes- 
tants were  shut  out  from  all  public  positions.  This 
seemed  a  great  privation,  but  proved  to  be  a  great  bless- 
ing, for  as  the  Reformed  were  not  allowed  to  enter  the 
state  service,  they  began  the  great  merchant  trade,  which 
since  that  time  has  filled  the  valley  of  the  Wupperthal 
with  manufactures,  and  made  Elberfeld  and  Barmen  great 
laboring  centres  in  Germany.  One  of  the  Duke's  edicts 
required  all  Reformed  ministers  to  be  driven  out  within 
a  month.     Often  the  ministers  were  pursued  in  the  streets 


66  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMA^^^r. 

and  roads  as  robbers.  And  when  the  elders  went  to  meet- 
ings of  Classis  or  Synod,  they  would  sometimes  have  their 
credentials  filled  out  in  the  fi^rm  of  a  business  letter  of 
credit  so  as  to  conceal  their  identity.  In  many  places  not 
only  was  preaching  forbidden,  but  even  the  singing  of 
Reformed  Psalms. 

In   1628   eighty  Reformed   churches  were  closed  in 
Julich  and  Berg.     The  condition  of  the   Reformed  had 
become    thus    helpless,    because    the   Spaniards   had   in 
1615  taken  Wesel,  which  was  the  citadel  of  that  district, 
and  from  it  they  dominated  the  neighboring  district  in  the 
interests  of  Catholicism.     At  Wesel,  that  centre  of  the 
Reformed  faith,  they  introduced  the  Romish  rites.     The 
times  changed,  however,  when  in  1629  the  Dutch  captured 
that  town.*     They  did  it  through  the  aid  of  a  Reformed 
citizen,  Avho  made  an  opening  in  a  part  of  the  city  wall 
that  was  not  watched.     The  Dutch  infantry  secretly  came 
in,    but  the  cavalry  could    not  get  over  the  high  wall 
remaining.     Then  occurred  a  providence.     The  Spanish 
garrison  had  by  this  time  discovered  the  Dutch  and  began 
shooting  at  them.     One  of  the  first  cannon   balls   struck 
the  chain  which  held  the  bridge  over  the  moat  in  the  air, 
and  which  no  one  before  had   been  able  to  loosen.     The 
chain  broke.     The  bridge  fell  of  its  own  weight,  and  over 
it  the  Dutch  entered  the  city.     After  a  hard  fight  for  two 


*  A  historical   novel  on  the   capture   of  Wesel  is   "  Die   Retter   Nieder- 
Wesels,"  by  Horn. 


THE   PERSECUTIONS   AT   ELBERFELD.  67 

hours,  the  Spaniards  were  defeated  and  the  cry  of  jubilee 
went  up  from  the  inhabitants,  ^^  The  city  is  Geus  (Re- 
formed)/' This  capture  of  Wesel  completely  changed  the 
aspect  of  affairs  in  Julich  and  Berg.  For  the  Dutch  did 
as  much  to  protect  the  Reformed  from  Wesel,  as  the 
Spaniards  had  done  to  oppress  them.  Indeed  they  virtu- 
ally saved  the  Reformed  Church  there,  which  otherwise 
would  perhaps  have  been  crushed,  had  the  persecutions 
continued.  Still,  although  oppressed,  many  of  the  Re- 
formed had  kept  up  their  services  in  caves  and  woods. 
We  have  time  to  mention  only  a  few  instances  of  the  most 
remarkable  instances  of  oppression. 

Elberfeld  has  always  been  a  Reformed  centre  in  that 
district.  Here  Kalman,  the  pastor,  held  services  in  1600, 
when  the  church  was  given  to  the  Catholics,  although 
there  were  only  six  families  belonging  to  that  faith  in  the 
town.  The  Reformed  appealed  to  the  Count  of  Lippe  to 
intervene,  but  in  vain.  They  then  made  a  last  appeal  to 
the  Duchess.  The  summons  to  vacate  their  church  wa& 
sent  to  them  fourteen  days  before  AVhitsunday.  When 
the  day  came  for  them  to  give  up  their  church,  the  Jesuits 
already  stood  outside  waiting  to  take  the  church  as  soon  as 
the  congregation  left  it.  The  minister,  to  make  the  ser- 
vice as  long  as  possible,  ordered  the  congregation  to  sing 
the  119th  Psalm  with  its  eighty-eight  verses,  after  the 
sermon.  One  can  imagine  with  what  anxiety  they  were 
sung.     And  lo,  before  the  congregation  w^  through  sing- 


68  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH   OF    GERMANY. 

ing  the  hymn,  a  messenger  came  from  the  Duke  ordering 
the  Reformed  to  retain  the  church.     The  Jesuits,  discom- 
fitted,  departed.     The  Reformed  retained  the  use  of  the 
church  till  1626,  when  it  was  again  ordered  to  be   taken 
away  from  them,  although  it  had  been  Reformed  for  eighty 
years.     And  when    they    protested,    the    Catholic   Duke 
declared  that  if  any  one  did  not  want  to  go  to  a  Romish 
service,  he  could  stay  away,  and  go  to  none.      In    1629 
their  oppression  became  greater.    The  Emperor  had  issued 
his  Edict  of  Restitution,  and  Tilly's  army    was   not   far 
away.  *  The  Duke  then  issued  an  order  commanding  all  the 
Reformed  to  become  Catholics.     Boos  (who  was  called  the 
chaplain  major  of  the  army,  and  who  used  to  go  through 
the  streets  of  Cologne  with  a  long  coat,  attended  by  a  crowd 
of  young  people  praying  and  singing,  with  bells  and  flags, 
scattering  holy  pictures  among  the  children   everywhere, 
urging  them  to  return  to  the  Romish  Church)  was  sent  to 
Elberfeld.     He  asked  that  a  Catholic  chaplain  be  placed 
at  Elberfeld  for  the  sake  of  the  soldiers  quartered  there. 
He  demanded  the  use  of  the  Reformed  church,  and  when 
they  refused  to  give  him  the  key,  the  soldiers  broke  in  the 
glass  windows  and  entered  by  force.     They  took  away  the 
communion  table,  burned  the   books   they    found   there, 
drove  away  the  school  teacher  and   pastor,   and   forbade 
those  who  did  not  come  to  mass  to  use  the  mills  of  the 
town  for  making  flour.     The  Reformed  then  appealed  to 
the  Dutch  to  %elp  them.     Suddenly  as  a  thunder  clap  out 


THE   PERSECUTIONS   AT   SOLINGEN.  69 

of  a  clear  sky,  relief  came,  for  Wesel  suddenly  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Dutch,  in  1629,  and  the  Catholic  power 
was  broken  in  that  district. 

Solingen  was  also  another  Reformed  centre,  and  it  too 
had  to  suifer.  The  Duke  had  placed  a  garrison  there  in 
1614  and  in  1624.  Boos  came  and  demanded  the  church, 
so  that  he  might  hold  services  for  the  troops.  But  the 
brave  Lunenschloss,  the  pastor,  together  with  the  mayor 
of  the  town,  declared  they  would  not  give  it  up,  unless  it 
were  taken  by  force.  In  1626  the  Romanists  broke  into 
the  church  and  celebrated  mass.  But  the  Dutch  came 
near,  and  so  the  Reformed  took  it  again  and  held  there  a 
service  of  thanksgiving  for  its  return  on  November  27, 
1626.  For  this  Lunenschloss  was  dismissed  by  the  Duke, 
and  the  mayor  put  in  prison  at  the  toll-gate  for  six  wrecks, 
where  he  suffered  severely  from  the  intense  cold,  and  the 
city  had  to  pay  4000  ricksthalers.  When  they  took  the 
church  again,  Lunenschloss  and  the  congregation  went  and 
held  services  at  the  city  hall.  But  there  Haltermund,  the 
Romanist,  so  that  they  might  not  hold  services,  cut  up  the 
pulpit  and  benches,  until  the  axe  broke  in  his  hand.  They 
then  held  their  services  in  the  churchyard,  and  Halter- 
mund reported  the  names  of  those  who  attended.  Lunen- 
schloss was  arrested  and  taken  before  the  captain,  and  for- 
bidden to  preach.  Still  he  contrived  to  gather  his  con- 
gregation together  in  other  places.  In  1629  the  Dutch 
captured  the  town  and  relieved   them.     But   soon   their 


70  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

trouble  began  anew.  The  priests  came  back  with  the 
imperial  soldiers.  They  did  not  at  first  take  the  churchy 
but  tried  to  annoy  the  worshipers.  Thus  they  burned 
rags  and  bundles  of  straw  outside  the  church,  which  made 
such  a  stench  that  the  congregation  had  to  leave.  Then 
they  took  the  church  away  from  the  Reformed.  The 
Reformed  in  1644,  as  they  could  not  hold  service  in  the 
church,  held  it  on  the  church  steps.  For  half  a  year  they 
gathered  before  the  closed  church.  Lunenschloss  often 
preached  there  in  the  severe  cold,  in  snow  and  rain.  On 
June  11,  1645,  the  congregation  broke  into  the  side  door 
of  the  church  and  held  a  service.  On  the  next  Sunday 
the  councillors  of  the  Duke  came  and  took  their  positions 
at  the  pulpit  beneath.  Lunenschloss  w^anted  to  ascend 
the  pulpit,  but  they  held  him  back  by  his  coat,  and  begged 
him  to  listen,  while  all  the  people  cried  out  :  "  The  pastor 
shall  preach.'^  Lunenschloss  finally  agreed,  and  the  con- 
gregation departed.  But  that  night  the  soldiers  came  to 
his  house,  broke  into  it,  tore  him  from  his  weeping  fam- 
ily, while  he  strengthened  them  with  the  comfort,  that 
without  the  will  of  the  Father  not  a  hair  could  fall,  took 
him  to  the  market-place  of  the  town,  and  wanted  to  shoot 
him  there.  Just  then,  however,  orders  came  to  them  not  to 
ghoot  him,  but  to  transport  him  to  Dusseldorf  for  trial. 
When  the  soldiers  in  charge  of  him  came  to  Hilden,  a 
carriage  passed  them,  and  as  it  passed,  a  noble  lady  looked 
out  of  the  window.     She  inquired   what  was  going  on. 


THE    DELIVERANCE   OF    LUNENSCHLOSS.  71 

When  she  found  that  the  prisoner  was  Lunenschloss,  a 
Reformed  pastor,  she  ordered  him  to  come  into  her  car- 
riage.    For  she  herself  was  a  Reformed  princess,  the  wife 
of  the  Romish  Duke  of  Pfalz  Neuburg.     Her  name  was 
Catharine  Charlotte,  and  she  belonged  to  the  Zweibriicken 
line  of  nobles.     She  was  deeply  attached  to  her  faith,  and 
had  as  her  private  court  preacher  the  learned   Hundius, 
who  preached  twenty  years  for  her.     He  preached  in  her 
private  chapel  three  times  a  week,  and   daily  read  the 
Scriptures  with  her.     She  was  very  glad  to  receive  Lunen- 
schloss into  her  carriage,  so  that  she  might  converse  with 
him.     Behold  now  the  interposition  of  God's  providence  ! 
The  minister,  who  a  few  hours   before   expected  to   be 
killed  in  the  market-place,  arrived  at  Dusseldorf  in  the 
carriage  of  his  princess.     When  Lunenschloss  was  brought 
before  the  Duke,  the  Duke  asked  him  why  he  disobeyed 
him    by    serving   his   congregation.      He   said  :    "  Your 
Highness,  it  is  my  duty  to  obey  my  God.     He  has  made 
me  a  watchman  over  my  congregation,  and  I  must  give 
an  account  to  Him  of  every  soul  committed  to  my  charge. 
Therefore,  woe  to  me,  if  I  leave  her  through  fear  of  man. 
On  the  contrary,  I  am  ready  to  sacrifice  my   life  for  the 
sake  of  my  congregation  and  my  God.''     The  Duke  was 
astonished  at  his  steadfastness,  and  offered  him  gifts  and 
honors,  if  he  would  renounce  the  Reformed  faith,  but  he 
declared  that  nothing  would  make  him  give  up  his  faith. 
The  Duke  was  impressed  by  the  noble  constancy  of  the 


72  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

man,  and  allowed  him  to  return  to  Solingen  and  continue 
as  pastor  of  his  congregation  until  his  death  in  1651. 

The  Westphalian  Peace  brought  relief  to  the  congre- 
gation from  their  persecutions.  This  Duchess  of  Pfalz 
Xeuberg  was  a  beautiful  character.  She  was  very  kind 
to  the  poor,  and  greatly  aided  the  Eeformed.  The 
Romanists  and  her  husband  often  annoyed  her  by  trying 
to  proselyte  her  to  the  Romish  faith.  But  against  them 
she  drew  up  a  Reformed  confession  of  faith.  She  died  in 
1656.  Her  pastor,  Hundius,  read  to  her  Psalm  38  : 
'^  Lord,  leave  me  not."  The  Lord  did  not  leave  her. 
While  her  husband  in  his  blindness  prayed :  "  Lord, 
remember  not  her  unbelief,"  she  prayed  her  last  words  : 
"  My  Lord,  give  me  more  grace  than  I  am  worthy  of." 

The  Reformed  Church  of  Radevormwald  had  similar 
persecutions.  In  1626  a  priest  named  Grotfeldt  demanded 
the  Reformed  church,  and  when  the  mayor  would  not 
grant  it,  he  beat  him  black  and  blue,  and  entered  complaint 
against  him  at  Dusseldorf,  so  that  the  mayor  and  secretary 
were  taken  prisoners  to  Dusseldorf,  and  kept  there  seven 
weeks  before  they  had  a  hearing  and  were  released.  Then 
Grotfeldt  asked  that  as  chaplain  of  the  regiment  he  might 
have  his  services  in  the  Reformed  church  from  seven  to 
nine  A.  m.,  and  after  that  the  Reformed  pastor  could  have 
his  service  unhindered.  But  the  priest  did  not  keep  his 
agreement  long,  but  barred  out  the  Reformed  entirely,  and 
took  away  their  endowments.      He  also  had  one  of  the 


PERSECUTIONS   AT   SOLINGEN.  73 

Reformed  pastors,  Pollich,  who  was  very  sick,  packed  in 
a  cart  and  taken  to  Cologne  as  a  prisoner,  where  he  died 
after  an  eighteen  days'  imprisonment.  He  also  brought 
it  about  that  the  other  Reformed  pastor  was  taken  as  a 
prisoner  to  Kaiserswerth,  and  kept  there  for  a  year  and  a 
half  till  he  died.  The  remaining  pastor,  Sunderman,  was 
forbidden  the  pulpit.  But  if  Grotfeldt  hoped  to  gain  a 
quick  victory  over  this  aged  pastor,  he  was  mistaken,  for 
he  bore  all  the  persecutions  of  the  Jesuits  with  great 
patience.  Though  driven  from  the  parsonage  and  robbed 
of  his  income  and  of  the  pulpit,  where  he  had  preached  for 
forty  years,  he  still  bore  the  persecutions  for  two  weary 
years,  and  continued  to  break  the  bread  of  life,  although 
forbidden  to  do  so.  Complaints  were  therefore  made 
against  him,  as  there  had  been  against  Pollich.  On  March 
30,  1628,  at  seven  p.  m.,  soldiers  broke  into  his  house, 
took  him  a  prisoner,  and  although  the  weather  was  very 
cold,  took  him  to  Kaiserswerth,  where  he  was  placed  in  a 
very  dirty  prison.  His  arrest  caused  a  great  sensation. 
Both  the  citizens  of  Solingen  and  the  Reformed  Synod  of 
Berg  took  up  his  case,  and  protested  and  appealed,  but 
in  vain.  He  w^as  kept  a  year  and  a  half  in  this  prison, 
for  no  other  crime  than  his  Reformed  faith.  Then  God 
gave  him  rest  in  heaven,  September  2,  1629. 

The  congregation  was  then  without  a  pastor  for  tliree 
years.  Only  a  very  few  went  to  the  Romish  service,  the 
great  body  of  the  citizens,  led  by  the  mayor,  remaining  true 

6 


74      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

to  the  Reformed  faith".  Then  a  new  pastor,  Schorm,  began 
holding  services  in  a  private  house.  The  Catholics  brought 
complaint  against  him  to  the  government,  and  gained  their 
point.  But  the  punishment  they  desired  for  the  Reformed 
minister  fell  on  their  own  heads.  For  the  Dutch  and 
Swedes  came  in  1632,  took  the  city  and  killed  the  priest  in 
the  meadow  outside  of  the  town.  In  1633  the  Romanists 
came  back,  as  the  Austrian  army  again  approached.  The 
town  passed  from  the  hands  of  one  army  to  another.  But 
the  Catholics  retained  the  church  for  service.  It  was  not 
till  1646  that  a  Reformed  pastor  (after  the  pulpit  had  been 
closed  for  twenty  years)  again  ascended  the  pulpit.  And 
it  was  not  till  1651  that  the  church  was  entirely  given  back 
to  them. 

Another  illustration  is  told  of  the  Reformed  at  Dussel- 
dorf.  As  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  was  preached  upon  in 
the  Reformed  churches  every  Sunday  afternoon,  the  Capu- 
chin monks  knew  when  the  ministers  would  preach  on  the 
eightieth  question.  They  would  come  that  day  and  stand 
at  the  door  eavesdropping,  and  listen  to  hear  what  he  would 
have  to  say  against  the  Romish  doctrine.  They  would 
then  denounce  the  pastor  before  the  court,  and  he 
would  have  to  pay  a  fine,  which  went  into  their  pockets. 
It  is  said  that  on  one  occasion  the  Reformed  pastor  at 
Dusseldorf,  as  he  ascended  the  pulpit  to  preach  on  this 
80th  question,  saw  two  Capuchin  monks  standing  in  the 
church.     He  was  very  careful  what  he  said,  lest  they  could 


PERSECUTIOX    AT    DUSSELDORF.  75 

bring  charges  against  him.  But  at  the  end  of  the  sermon, 
he  gave  out  the  39th  Psalm,  whose  first  verse  is  based  on 
the  text :  '^  I  will  take  heed  unto  my  ways  that  I  sin  not 
with  my  tongue.  I  will  keep  my  mouth  with  a  bridle, 
while  the  luicked  are  before  me."  The  monks  heard  it  and 
never  troubled  him  again. 

These  serve  as  illustrations  of  some  of  the  persecutions 
of  the  Reformed  in  Pfalz  Neuburg.  Nobly  and  bravely 
they  remained  true  to  their  Reformed  faith,  and  thus  laid 
the  foundations  of  what  is  now  the  Reformed  centre  of 
Germany,  the  Lower  Rhine. 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE  QUARTERING  IN  NiSSAU. 


SECTION  I. 
NASSAU  BEFORE  THE  COMING  OF  THE  SWEDES. 

East  of  the  Rhine,  near  the  city  of  Frankford,  was  a 
district  filled  with  counties  ruled  by  lesser  princes,  called 
the  Wetterau  district.  Of  these  the  Counts  of  Nassau, 
Solms,  Hanau,  Isenberg,  Sayn  and  AVied,  were 
Reformed.  There  Avere  four  Nassau  princes  who  were 
Reformed — the  Counts  of  Dillenburg,  Siegen,  Hadamer 
and  Dietz.  These  Nassau  princes,  although  their  sympa- 
thies were  with  Frederick  of  the  Palatinate,  yet  out  of  fear 
of  the  Emperor  withdrew  from  the  Protestant  Union  and 
declared  themselves  neutral.  Even  Count  John  of  Siegen, 
who  had  been  in  the  Palatinate  service  for  thirty  years, 
left  it  and  returned  to  his  land.  But  neutrality  did  not 
save  them.  Their  lands  were  rich  and  they  were  weak. 
So  the  Emperor  used  them  as  the  places  for  quartering 
his  armies.  As  early  as  1622  the  imperial  general  An- 
holt  devastated  a  large  part  of  Nassau.  Then  Tilly  came 
from  the  Palatinate  and  quartered  his  troops  there.  This 
he  did  for  five   successive   years.     And   then,  as  if  one 


PERSECUTIONS    IN    SIEGEN.  77 

army  had  not  destroyed  enough,  finally  Wallenstein  also 
came  with  his  army.  And  what  one  army  had  not  plun- 
dered, the  other  came  to  complete. 

Several  other  events  also  greatly  added  to  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  Reformed.  Siegen  received  for  its  ruler  a 
Catholic  in  1623.  This  prince,  called  Count  John  the 
Younger,  had  been  carefully  educated  by  his  father.  Count 
John  the  Middle,  who  sent  him  to  Geneva,  where  he  lived 
for  a  time  at  the  house  of  Beza,  but  later,  while  on  a  jour- 
ney to  Italy  in  1613,  the  Jesuits  converted  him  to  Rome. 
His  father,  when  he  died,  ordered  that  the  son  sheuld  not 
attempt  to  change  the  religion  of  his  Reformed  subjects. 
But  in  1624  he  began  introducing  Romanism  by  bringing 
in  the  Jesuits,  to  whom  he  gave  the  cloister  church  of  Sie- 
gen. On  May  11,  1626,  he  took  all  the  churches  from 
the  Reformed  and  ordered  all  their  ministers  to  leave  the 
land.  The  only  Reformed  minister  permitted  to  remain 
was  his  mother's  private  chaplain,  who  was  permit- 
ted to  hold  services  only  in  her  room.  He  established  a 
Jesuit  college  at  Siegen,  and  compelled  two  of  the  Re- 
formed congregations  to  allow  the  Catholic  worship  in 
their  churches.  In  many  other  Avays  he  embittered  the 
lives  of  his  Reformed  subjects.  He  finally  fined  them  a 
gold  gulden  for  not  attending  mass.  And  when  they  asked 
that  at  least  they  might  be  permitted  to  have  the  Heidel- 
berg Catechism,  if  they  could  not  have  their  church 
services,  he  refused  them.      They  began,  for    the    sake 


78  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

of  their  Reformed    faith,    to  emigrate    to    Hesse-CasseL 
This  he  also  forbade.     He  did  not  allow  them  honorable 
burial.     Thus,  in  1639,  a  woman  named  Heipels,  was  left 
unburied  for  three  days,  and  then  only  allowed  to  be  bur- 
ied in  her  own  garden,  not  in  the   cemetery.     In  1630 
Hans  Altgeld,  his  wife  and  daughter  had  to  be  buried  in 
a  hole  before  their  door  in  their  garden.     The  Count  would 
not  allow  them  to  be  buried  in  the  cemetery,  because  they 
were  Reformed.     A  prominent  citizen,  a  member  of  the 
Reformed  congregation,  died  at  Siegen.     With  the  great- 
est difficulty  his  family  gained  permission  to  bury  him  in 
his  own  yard,  but  the  Romish  authorities  would  allow  no 
funeral  procession.     So  his  son-in-law  and  brother-in-law 
had  to  bury  him  quietly.     Some  of  the  persecutions  of  the 
Jesuits,  in  order  to  make  converts,  Avere  silly.     Thus  the 
women  of  Siegen  were  accustomed  to  bleach  their  linen 
before  the  gate  of  the  city.     The  Jesuits  would  come  and 
take  away  the  linen   of  those   who    were   not  Catholics. 
They  would  also  prevent  the  cattle  of  those  who  were  not 
Romanists  from  being  driven  out  for  three   days,  thus 
greatly  inconveniencing  the  OAvners. 

Another  terrible  blow  the  Reformed  of  Nassau 
received  was  the  conversion  of  Count  John  Lewis  of 
Hadamer  to  Romanism.  The  Jesuits,  ever  on  a  watch  to 
make  converts,  trumped  up  a  charge  at  Vienna  against 
the  Nassau  Counts,  namely  that  they  had  placed  ten  sol- 
diers in  Frederick's  army.     Tlie  Counts  were  summoned 


THE   COUNT   OF   HADAMER's   DEFECTION.  79 

to  VieiiDa  to  answer  for  this  treason  to  the  Emperor. 
They  held  a  meeting  in  1629,  and  decided  to  send  the 
Count  of  Hadamer,  who  was  a  brilliant  orator  and  a  fine 
scholar,  to  plead  their  cause.  On  his  way  to  Vienna,  at 
Mayence,  he  fell  in  with  a  Jesuit  named  Ziegler,  the  con- 
fessor of  the  Archbishop  of  Mayence,  who  had  formerly 
been  Reformed.  The  Count  considered  himself  quite 
skillful  in  debate.  The  wily  Jesuit  inveigled  him  into  a 
debate,  and  discovered  that  the  Count  was  not  fully  sure 
of  his  position.  He  sent  word  ahead  to  Vienna,  and 
when  the  Count  arrived  there,  all  unknown  to  himself  the 
Jesuits  laid  a  plot  to  draw  him  into  the  Romish  Church. 
He  was  received  with  great  honor  by  the  court,  and 
invited  to  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  cloister  on 
the  Kahlenburg,  just  north  of  Vienna.  There  the  Empe- 
ror had  him  dine  with  him,  and  placed  opposite  to  him 
Lenormain,  his  confessor.  Of  course  the  Count  and  the 
confessor  were  soon  in  a  heated  debate,  lasting  seven 
hours,  in  which  the  Count  proved  a  rather  poor  match  for 
the  shrewd  Jesuit.  He  made  damaging  admissions  which 
were  used  against  him.  Finally,  hounded  on  every  side, 
he  was  persuaded,  instead  of  going  to  his  lodgings,  to  go 
to  one  of  the  Jesuit  novitiate  houses.  He  might  have 
known  that  this  half  step  toward  Rome  would  comprom- 
ise him.  Here  they  arranged  that  a  Jesuit  of  the  county 
of  Nassau  should  meet  him.     This   man  pointed  out  to 


80      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

him  the  errors  of  the  Protestant  Bible.*  The  Count, 
after  remaining  in  this  house  for  seven  days,  confessed 
that  he  saw  many  errors  in  Protestantism.  The  next  day 
he  permitted  masses  to  be  read  for  him,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  second  mass  he  cried  out  to  the  priest :  "  My  father,  I 
am  a  Catholic,  and  so  will  I  live,  and  so  will  I  die." 
After  his  conversion  the  charges  against  the  Nassau 
Counts  were  withdrawn.  In  return  for  his  conversion  the 
Emperor  ordered  the  Austrian  arm'es  to  withdraw  from 
his  territory,  and  he  was  honored  with  the  appointment  of 
chamberlain  to  the  Emperor. 

The  news  of  his  conversion  to  Romanism  caused  a  tre- 
mendous sensation  in  Siegen.  Niesener,  the  Reformed 
pastor,  was  commissioned  to  break  the  news  to  the  Count's 
Reformed  wife,  w^hose  motto  had  been  "  firm  in  the  faith." 
As  he  made  know  to  her  her  husband's  apostasy,  she  fainted 
away.  When  she  had  revived,  he  encouraged  her  to 
remain  true  to  the  Reformed  faith.  She  nobly  replied : 
^^  I  would  rather  be  divorced  from  my  husband  and  go  out 
of  his  land  a  beggar,  than  leave  my  faith.  The  Count 
returned,  December,  1629,  bringing  Jesuits  with  him,  who 
two  months  later  began  holding  Romish  services.     The 

*  The  Reformed  Bible,  translated  by  Piscator,  was  in  common  use  in  Nas- 
sau, instead  of  Luther's  translation.  The  Lutherans  had  been  jealous  of  it, 
for  fear  it  might  supplant  Luther's.  It's  enemies  called  it  the  "  Strafe  mich 
Gott"  Bible,  because  in  Mark  8:12  "There  shall  no  sign  be  given  to  this  con- 
gregation. Amen,"  Piscator  had  exaggerated  the  Amen  into  the  strong  Ger- 
man phrase,  "  Strafe  mich  Gott."  Possibly  this  was  one  of  the  glosses,  to 
which  the  Jesuit  called  the  attention  of  the  Count. 


COUNTESS    URSULA.  81 

Count  then  ordered  the  Reformed  ministers  to  either  leave 
or  become  Romanists.  By  the  end  of  1630  not  a  Reformed 
minister  was  left  in  all  the  land  except  his  wife's  private 
chaplain,  and  Niesener  who  was  put  under  house  arrest. 
The  Romish  priests  took  all  the  Reformed  churches  and 
finally  brought  charges  against  Niesener,  for  which  he  was 
arrested  and  taken  to  Cologne,  where  he  was  imprisoned  in 
a  miserable  prison  for  a  year,  before  he  was  found  inno- 
cent. Countess  Ursula  remained  true  to  her  faith.  She 
was  one  of  the  '^  saints  of  the  Reformed  Church.''  Three 
hours  every  day  she  spent  in  prayer.  She  was  very  kind 
and  liberal  to  the  poor.  When  the  plague  broke  out,  she 
went  like  an  angel  of  mercy  ministering  from  door  to  door. 
The  Jesuits  tried  in  every  way  to  convert  her,  but  she  was 
ready  to  silence  them  with  an  answer  from  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism.  The  purity  of  her  faith  and  life  compelled 
even  the  Catholics  to  admire  her.  The  leading  Jesuit  con- 
fessed that  such  a  heretic  as  she  outweighed  many  a  dozen 
of  Catholics  in  God's  sight.  At  her  death  in  1638  she 
greatly  longed  for  the  ministrations  of  a  Reformed  minis- 
ter, as  the  Jesuits  tried  to  convert  her  on  her  deathbed. 
But  she  remained  steadfast  and  firm.  One  of  the  Jesuits 
afterward  wrote :  '^  We  mourn  that  this  precious  silver 
vessel  remained  to  the  last  tainted  with  heresy."  After 
her  death  the  Romanists  had  entire  control  of  Hadamer. 
And  so  the  Reformed  lost  control  of  two  of  the  Nassau 
lands,  Siegen  and  Hadamer. 


82  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

The  Catholics  also  gained  control  of  another  of  the 
counties  of  the  AVetterau.     For  Count  John  Albert  of 
Solms,  a  man  of  great  piety  and  devotion  to  the  Keformed 
Church,  had  been  an  officer  in  the  army  of  King  Fred- 
erick of  Bohemia.     For  this  he  was  put  under  the  ban  by 
the  Emperor  and  deposed.     The   Spaniards  took  posses- 
sion of  his  land,  fearfully  ravaging  it  and  driving  out  the 
Reformed  ministers.     Count  John  Albert  greatly  mourned 
the  sufferings  of  his  land  ;  so  much  so  that  a  friend  said  to 
him  :  "  Brother,  you  are  a  real  martyr,  although  you  have 
not  shed  any  blood."     Nearly  all  the  Reformed  .  ministers 
were  driven  out  of  Solms,  and  their  places  taken  by  Romish 
priests.     These  events,  together  with  the  oppressions  of 
the   imperial   forces   greatly   discouraged   the   Reformed. 
The  Edict  of  Restitution  added  to  their  sufferings,  as  it 
took  away  most  of  the  endowments  which  supported  the 
Reformed  university  of  Herborn.     This  toAvn  was  repeat- 
edly plundered.      It  was  destroyed  in   1626   and  after- 
wards in  1634  by  fire.     As   a  result  the  university  was 
well  nigh  destroyed,  only  four  professors  remaining  in  it. 
Owing  to  the  oppressions  of  the  enemy,  the  years  1628  and 
1629  were  years  of  famine.     Many  made  bread  of  acorns, 
hemp    seed   and  roots.     Plague   followed,    during  which 
whole  families  died  and  whole  villages  were  depopulated. 
The  severity  of  these  sufferings  seemed  almost  to  have 
turned  the  heads  of  the  poor  people,  for  a  strange  infatu- 
ation for  witchcraft  broke  out  among  them.     Between  the 


BELIEF    IX    WITCHCRAFT.  83 

years  1629  and  1632  thirty-five  witches  were  executed  at 
Dillenberg,  ninety  at  Herborn,  and  thirty  at  Drierdorf. 
A  girl  at  Amsdorf  with  many  tears  told  her  father  on  May 
1,  1831,  that  she  Avas  a  witch.  He  felt  it  his  duty  to  tell 
it  to  the  authorities  of  Herborn,  and  for  it  she  was  executed. 
Sometimes  the  witches  would  be  put  to  such  severe  tor- 
tures that  on  the  following  day  they  would  be  found  dead 
in  prison.  Many  superstitious  people  believed  that  it  was 
not  the  torture  that  killed  them,  but  Satan.  Thus  a  widow 
was  found  dead  at  Herborn,  after  having  been  tortured  the 
previous  day.  The  superstitious  ones  then  remembered 
that  when  she  was  tortured,  a  bat  as  large  as  a  cat  came 
into  the  place  of  torture.  This  they  declared  was  the  devil. 
The  superstitious  people  believed  that  if  Avitch  powder 
were  spilled  on  the  trees,  there  would  be  no  fruit ;  if  on 
the  fields,  no  grain  ;  if  on  the  wind,  bad  weather.  Almost 
every  town  had  its  locality  where  witches  were  said  to 
dance.  And  yet,  while  we  may  be  tempted  to  smile  at 
these  things,  we  should  rather  pity  the  poor  people.  For 
as  one  writer  says  :  '^  The  terrible  sufferings  of  the  times 
gave  them  universal  melancholy.'^  To  the  credit  of  the 
Reformed  ministers  be  it  said  that  they  tried  to  stem  the 
tide  of  popular  opinion  in  favor  of  witchcraft  by  warning 
the  people  against  it.  Thus  wars,  oppression,  persecution, 
famine,  plague  and  witchcraft  made  tlie  early  years  of  the 
war  most  deplorable  to  Nassau. 


CHAPTER  III.— SECTION  11. 

FROM  THE  COMING  OF  THE  SWEDES  TO  THE  END  OF 
THE  WAR. 

A  better  clay  dawned  on  these  counties  of  the  Wetterau 
as  Gustavus,  the  Gideon  of  his  age,  appeared.  The  Swedes 
came  to  Nassau  in  November,  1631,  led  by  a  captain  born 
in  Herborn.  Their  strict  discipline  and  high  morals  con- 
trasted favorably  with  the  terrible  immorality  and  cruelty 
of  the  imperial  army.  Especially  did  the  Laplanders  in 
the  Swedish  army  excite  curiosity,  because  they  were  so 
small  of  stature,  wore  reindeer  clothing,  and  carried  bows 
and  arrows.  Everywhere  the  Swedes  were  welcomed  as 
deliverers.  The  Nassau  Princes  had  learned  by  sad  experi- 
ence that  neutrality  was  more  expensive  than  war,  for  the 
imperial  army  had  forced  thousands  of  gulden  out  of  their 
lands  by  their  quartering  for  so  many  years.  So  some  of 
them  gave  up  neutrality  and  openly  joined  the  Swedish 
army.  The  leading  Prince  of  the  Nassau  line  was 
Count  Lewis  Henry  of  Dillenburg.  He  entered  the 
Swedish  army  with  his  forces,  taking  with  him  his  Reformed 
chaplain  Vigelius.  Better  days  now  came  to  the  Reformed 
ofthe  counties  of  Siegen  and  Hadamar.  The  Jesuits  either 
left  or  were  compelled  to  leave,  because  of  the  hatred  of  the 


COUNT   JOHN    MAURICE.  85 

people.     The  Reformed  ministers  began  to  come  back  from 
other  lands  to  their  shepherdless  flocks. 

During  the  years  of  the  Swedish  rule,  there  came  back 
to  Nassau  a  prominent  prince,  Count  John  Maurice  of  Nas- 
sau Siegen.  He  was  the  younger  brother  of  Count  John 
the  Younger  of  Siegen,  who  had  gone  over  to  Romanism. 
Their  father,  to  prevent  his  Catholic  son  from  gaining  all 
the  territory,  had  divided  it  by  his  will  among  his  three 
sons.  But  Count  John  Maurice  had  never  gotten  his  por- 
tion, because  his  Catholic  brother,  with  the  aid  of  the 
Emperor,  had  kept  it  from  him.  Now,  however,  when  the 
Swedes  came,  Count  John  Maurice  came  back  to  Siegen  to 
take  his  rights,  from  which  the  Emperor  had  so  unjustly 
deprived  him.  Many  years  before  he  had  entered  the 
Dutch  military  service,  and  had  become  private  secretary 
to  Prince  Maurice  of  Orange.  Then  he  rose  in  the  Dutch 
army  to  a  high  position.  He  now  came  back  to  Siegen  to 
restore  his  beloved  Reformed  faith  to  that  land.  He  called 
Professor  Irlen  of  Herborn  to  re-introduce  the  Reformed 
religion.  He  had  a  locksmith  break  down  the  altars  which 
the  Romanists  had  erected  in  the  Reformed  churches  (for  the 
Reformed  churches  have  no  altar,  only  a  communion  table). 
He  also  revived  the  Reformed  gymnasium  at  Siegen.  The 
death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  however,  checked  many  of 
these  favorable  movements.*     The  defeat  of  the  Swedes  at 

■:;:-  Although  Gustavus  was  a  Lutheran,  many  memorial  sermons  were 
preached  on  his  death  in  the  Reformed  churches,  in  which  he  was  likened  to 
King  Josiah  of  the  Bible, 


S6  THE   REFOEMED    CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

Nordlingen  having  broken  their  power,  Count  John 
Maurice  had  to  leave,  and  his  Romish  brother  came  back 
to  re-introduce  Romanism  into  his  land. 

Count  John  Maurice  was  sent  by  the  Dutch  West  India 
Company  to  Brazil  in  1636,  for  which  he  afterwards 
received  the  name  of  "  the  Brazilian."  He  took  with  him 
his  Reformed  chaplain  Plante,  and  at  once  set  to  work  to 
introduce  the  Reformed  faith  into  the  new  world.  Cal- 
vin's Reformed  colony  to  Rio  Janeiro  in  1557  had  turned 
out  a  failure.  Count  John  Maurice  now  tried  to  intro- 
duce the  Reformed  faith  again.  He  aimed  to  snatch  South 
America  from  the  power  of  the  Jesuits  and  its  natives  from 
heathenism.  As  early  as  1623  Prof.  Walaus  had  started 
a  Foreign  Mission  School  at  Leyden,  so  that  the  Dutch 
Church  was  early  showing  a  missionary  zeal  which  led  to 
large  missionary  operations  in  both  the  East  and  the  West 
Indies.  Count  John  Maurice  therefore  soon  sent  back  to 
Holland  for  more  ministers  to  evangelize  among  the 
natives,  and  in  1637  eight  Reformed  ministers  were  sent 
out.  These  preached  in  Dutch,  French,  Portuguese  and 
English.  Soller  and  Polhemius  preached  in  Olinda, 
Peolius  in  Tamarica,  Ratherlarius  (an  Englishman)  at 
Parahiba.  In  the  province  of  St.  Augustine,  Stetinus  pro- 
claimed the  gospel,  as  did  Eduardi  at  Serinhsen.  The  gos- 
pel was  also  preached  in  the  province  of  Maragnana. 
These  ministers  endeavored  to  preach  in  the  villages  near 
their  parishes  to  the  natives.     For  they  found  that  the 


MISSIONARY    EFFORTS.  87 

Jesuits  who  had  been  there  under  the  Portuguese,  had 
tried  missionary  work,  but  as  usual  in  a  superficial  way. 
They  did  not  translate  the  Bible,  but  were  satisfied  if  the 
natives  had  learned  the  Creed  and  the  Lord's  Prayer. 
The  Dutch  ministers  labored,  however,  to  bring  them  to  an 
experimental  knowledge  of  spiritual  things.  In  doing 
this,  the  Count's  court  preacher,  Plante,  set  the  example, 
but  others  were  very  zealous  in  doing  missionary  work,  as 
Casseber  at  Recissa.  Doriflarius  became  quite  eloquent  in 
preaching  in  the  native  language,  and  translated  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism  into  the  Tapuya  dialect  of  Brazil. 
Thus,  wherever  the  Dutch  flag  waved,  there  arose  the 
standard  of  the  cross,  under  which  a  Reformed  congrega- 
tion was  formed.  These  zealous  ministers  also  formed 
themselves,  according  to  the  Presbyterial  government  com- 
mon in  Holland,  into  Classes  and  Synods.  They  labored 
hard  to  plant  a  Reformed  Church  in  South  America.  Long 
before  William  Penn,  Count  John  Maurice  began  the 
policy  of  fair  dealing  with  the  Indians.  He  placed  in 
every  native  village  in  his  colony  a  Dutchman,  whose  duty 
it  was  to  see  that  the  natives  were  not  cheated,  but  had 
their  rights  and  were  paid  for  their  goods.  The  natives, 
therefore,  very  highly  honored  him.  One  of  the  Indian 
chiefs  gave  him  a  costly  dish,  which  he  afterwards  pre- 
sented to  the  Reformed  church  at  Siegen,  in  Germany. 
But  differences  arose  between  the  Count  and  the  Dutch 
West  India  Company.     In  1645  he  returned  to  Holland, 


88  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

bringing  twenty-five  tons  of  gold  with  him,  and  was 
received  with  high  honors  by  the  government.  In  1654 
the  Portuguese  defeated  the  Dutch  in  Brazil.  The  colony 
fell  and  the  Reformed  churches  were  lost.  Brazil,  instead 
of  becoming  Protestant  and  Reformed,  became  Portuguese, 
and  under  the  Jesuits  one  of  the  most  Romanist  of  lands. 
The  Dutch  afterwards  exchanged  their  colony  at  New  York 
with  the  English  for  what  is  now  Dutch  Guiana,  in  South 
America,  (where  there  are  now  about  7,000  Reformed). 
Thus  the  Dutch  colony  in  South  America  failed,  as  had 
the  French  colony  in  the  century  before,  but  none  the  less 
should  the  Reformed  have  the  credit  of  trying  to  plant  two 
colonies  in  South  America  to  save  the  heathen,  the  first 
efforts  made  by  Protestants  to  evangelize  in  this  western 
continent.  Count  John  Maurice,  when  he  returned  to 
Europe,  found  that  his  Catholic  brother  at  Siegen  had 
died.  So  he  went  to  Siegen  to  gain  the  property  left  him 
by  his  father.  He  re-garrisoned  Siegen  and  re-introduced 
the  Reformed  faith  there  by  calling  Professor  Irlen  from 
Herborn  to  introduce  it.*  He  showed  his  appreciation  of 
the  Reformed  by  presenting  the  Reformed  church  at 
Siegen  with  costly  presents,  and  at  his  own  expense  he 
remodeled  the  St.  Nicolas  church. 

Count  Lewis  Henry  of  Nassau  Dillenburg  soon  revealed 
in  the  Swedish  army  that  he  was  one  of  Gustavus'  bravest 
generals.     Gustavus  at  once  noticed  his  qualities  as  a   sol- 

*  Siegen  is  now  one  of  the  most  Reformed  districts  in  Germany. 


BRAVERY   OF   COUNT   LEWIS    HEXRY.  89 

dier  and  took  quite  a  fancy  to  him.  For  at  the  crossing 
of  the  Rhine  at  Oppenheim  the  Count  was  one  of  the  first 
to  bravely  face  the  fire  of  the  enemy.  He  had  learned  the 
art  of  war  under  Count  Maurice  of  Orange  in  the  Nether- 
lands, and  now  he  completed  his  education  under  Gustavus 
Adolphus.  He  was  a  giant  in  stature.  He  soon  gained 
fame  by  his  successful  attack  on  the  toAvn  of  Braunfcls 
(1635),  which  was  the  only  victory  gained  by  the  Swedes 
immediately  after  their  terrible  defeat  at  Nordlingen,  and 
which  seemed  to  some  extent  to  atone  for  that  defeat.  He 
marched  his  troops  over  the  snow  by  night  and  came  to  the 
town  of  Braunfels  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Before  his 
troops  were  discovered,  his  soldiers  were  on  the  wall  of  the 
town.  The  garrison  soon  surrendered.  When  he  returned 
from  this  victory,  the  magistrates  and  professors  of  the 
University  of  Herborn  met  him  at  the  gate  of  Herborn, 
Avhere  Dr.  Irlen  made  an  address,  in  which  he  compared 
him  to  Joshua  and  Agamemnon.  His  success,  however, 
not  only  gained  him  fame,  but  also  called  the  attention  of 
the  Emperor  to  him  as  a  dangerous  enemy.  The  Austrians 
sent  their  armies  against  him,  which  besieged  Dillenburg, 
his  capital.  But  his  garrison  made  such  a  successful  sortie 
that  the  imperial  forces  agreed  to  give  up  the  siege,  pro- 
vided he  would  pay  them  10,000  ricksthalers  bounty.  When 
the  Peace  of  Prague  was  published,  strange  to  say,  he 
signed  it  and  exchanged  the  blue  sash  of  the  Swedes  for  the 
red  of  the  Emperor.      He    may    have   gone  over  to  the 

7 


90  THE    REFOEMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

Emperor  because  he  suspected  that  the  Romish  Count  of 
Siegen  was  plotting  with  the  Emperor  to  gain  his  territory. 
The  Emperor  gladly  received  so  brave  a  general  into  his 
army.  But  Lewis'  people  were  not  satisfied  with  the  change, 
and  many  looked  upon  his  action  as  nothing  less  than  trea- 
son to  the  Protestant  cause.     Some  of  his  officers  refused 
to  serve  any  longer  under  him,  and  many   of  his  soldiers 
deserted.     His  cavalry  for  a  quarter  of  a  year  absolutely 
refused  to  take  tlie  oath  to  the  Emperor.      The  Emperor 
employed  him  to  capture  small  forts,  an  art  in  which  he 
was  signally  successful,  as  Montabour,  Amoneburg   and 
others.      His    most     successful    capture,   however,    was 
Hanau.     This    famous    city   consisted  of  two   parts,    an 
old    and      a    new     city,     the     latter    founded     by     the 
Reformed    refugees  in    1597.      Countess  Catharine    Bel- 
gica,  a  descendant  of  AYilliam  of  Orange,  ruled  the  land  in 
the  early  part  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  with  rare  wisdom, 
until  her  son,  Count  Philip  Maurico,  ascended  the  throne 
in  1627.     When  Gustavus  Adolphus  came,  the   Count  of 
Hanau  joined  the  Swedes,  who  placed  a  garrison  at  Hanau 
under  the  command  of  the  Scotch  general  Ramsay.     After 
the  defeat  of  the  Swedes  at  Nordlingen,  this  fort  remained 
the  only  Swedish  fort  in  that  part  of  Germany.      It  was 
defended  by  the  brave  Ramsay  with  great  ability.      When 
the  Peace  of  Prague  was  published,  the  Count  of  Hanau 
accepted   it  and  joined   the    Emperor.      He    returned  to 
Hanau  from  Metz,  whither  he  had  fled.      Bat  when  the 


THE   CAPTURE   OF   HANAU.  91 

Count  began  issuing  orders  to  the  inhabitants  of  Hanau 
forbidding  the  people  to  pray  for  the  success  of  the  Swedes 
against  the  Emperor,  Ramsay  put  him  under  arrest  for 
spreading  treason  against  the  Swedes.  When  Count  Lewis 
Henry  of  Dillenburg  heard  that  his  cousin,  Count  Philip 
Maurice,  was  under  arrest  in  his  own  castle  in  Hanau,  he 
determined  to  rescue  him.  He  suddenly  appeared  before 
Hanau,  February  21,  1638,  with  700  men.  He  seized  the 
fortifications  at  the  mill  by  the  red  house,  and  captured  the 
castle  and  rescued  the  imprisoned  Count  of  Hanau.  Ram- 
say meanwhile  shut  himself  up  in  the  new  city,  and  pre- 
pared to  stand  a  siege.  But  he  was  severely  wounded  at 
his  residence  at  the  White  Lion  Hotel.  He  therefore  sur- 
rendered, February  23,  1638.  As  soon  as  his  wound  per- 
mitted, Ramsay  was  taken  a  prisoner  to  Dillenberg,  where 
he  arrived  March  24,  1538.  But  his  proud  spirit  revolted 
against  the  idea  of  being  a  prisoner.  He  hoped  that  he 
might  be  exchanged  for  the  Austrian  cavalry  general,  John 
of  Werth.  Some  dispute,  however,  with  the  Austrian  gov- 
ernment about  50,000  ricksthalers  prevented  this.  Finding 
that  he  was  not  to  be  exchanged,  he  became  morbid  under 
his  imprisonment  and  somewhat  unruly.  Still  he  was 
always  glad  for  the  visits  of  the  Reformed  ministers,  for  he 
himself  belonged  to  the  Scotch  Reformed  or  Presbyterian 
faith.  Corvinus,  the  rector  of  the  Reformed  University  of 
Herborn,  frequently  visited  him,  and  conversed  with  him 
in  Swedish  and   English.     Ramsay  finally  died,  a  disap- 


92      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

pointed  man,  after  nearly  a  year's  imprisonment.  As  no 
effort  was  made  to  have  his  body  returned  to  his  native  land 
of  Scotland,  he  was  buried  in  the  Reformed  church  at 
Dillenburg,  where  his  tomb  is  shown  to  this  day. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  war,  Nassau  and  the  other 
"Wetterau  districts,  like  the  Palatinate,  suffered  severely. 
Army  after  army  passed  over  these  lands.  One  writer 
says :  ''  On  the  one  side  w^ere  Swedes,  French,  Lapps, 
Scotch-Irish,  and  on  the  other  Spaniards  and  Bavarians, 
and  no  one  knew  which  were  friends  or  foes."  ^^  When  they 
had  marched  through,"  said  a  minister,  "  it  looked  as  if 
Lucifer  or  Beelzebub  had  passed  by."  When  the  war  was 
over,  houses  could  be  found  which  had  been  so  long  deserted 
that  a  cherry  tree  had  grown  up  from  the  hearth  through 
the  chimney  and  spread  its  boughs  over  the  roof.  Famine 
and  pestilence  raged.  Many  of  the  villages  were  reduced 
to  one 'family.  No  wonder  then  that  the  Peace  of  West- 
phalia w^as  welcomed  with  great  joy.  By  it  the  Reformed 
in  the  counties  of  Siegen  and  Hadamer  were  again  allowed 
their  Reformed  worship,  although  the  Count  of  Hadamer 
tried  hard  to  prevent  it  as  much  as  possible.* 

■'•  In  1742  the  Nassau  lands  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  House  of  Orange, 
and  the  Reformed  had  greater  liberty  and  power  after  that. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  BRAYERY  OF  HESSE-CASSEL. 

Hesse-Cassel  deserves  special  mention  in  the  Reformed 
history  of  this  war.  She  should  receive  double  credit, 
both  for  her  bravery  and  for  her  persistence  for  the 
Reformed  faith  during  the  war.  She  was  the  only  land 
that  continuously  opposed  the  unjust  oppressions  of  the 
Emperor  during  the  ivhole  of  the  tear.  For  even  the  Peace 
of  Prague,  Avhich  tempted  so  many  German  princes  to 
make  peace  Avith  the  Emperor,  failed  to  win  Hesse-Cassel 
to  make  peace  until  her  wrongs  were  righted. 

SECTION  I. 
THE  ABDICATION  OF  LANDGRAVE  MAURICE. 

This  distinguished  Reformed  prince  was  a  scholar,  as 
well  as  a  noble.  He  was  as  learned  in  all  the  sciences  and 
philosophies  of  his  day,  as  he  was  in  statesmanship.  A 
far  better  leader  would  he  have  been  for  the  Protestant 
Union  than  the  young,  inexperienced  Frederick  V.  of  the 
Palatinate.  He  was  one  of  the  most  broad-minded,  far- 
seeing  of  the  Reformed  statesmen  of  Germany.  He  was 
one  of  the  first  to  suggest  a  general  Protestant  Diet,  which 
should  destroy  Austria  and  the  Papacy.     But  Frederick 


94      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

was  not  willing  for  that,  and  began  the  movements  which 
led  to  his  election  to  the  throne  of  Bohemia.  Landgrave 
Maurice  disapproved  of  Frederick's  acceptance  of  that 
throne,  but  he  still  remained  true  to  the  Protestant  Union. 
Spinola,  the  Spanish  general,  by  a  quick  move  toward 
Mayence,  cut  INIaurice  off  from  the  other  armies  of  the 
Protestant  Union  in  Southern  Germany.  His  OAvn  nobles, 
as  well  as  the  approach  of  the  Spanish  army,  compelled 
him  to  retire  from  the  Union  as  it  fell  to  pieces.  When 
he  heard  how  unjustly  Frederick  had  been  deposed  by  the 
Emperor,  he  became  very  angry.  Still  he  could  do  noth- 
ing, for  Spinola's  a-rmy  was  on  his  borders.  Tilly's  Aus- 
trian army  came  in  1623,  fearfully  ravaging  Hersfeld  and 
Eschwege.  Tilly  took  the  old  abbey  of  Hersfeld  from  the 
Reformed,  and  gave  it  to  the  Jesuits.  But  like  a  thunder 
clap  out  of  a  clear  sky  there  came  the  Emperor's  order 
to  him  in  1623  to  give  up  Upper  Hesse  (which  he  had 
occupied  for  eighteen  years)  to  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse- 
Darmstadt.  The  latter  Avas  a  Lutheran,  and  had  brought 
charges  against  Maurice  that  he  had  violated  the  will  of 
the  previous  Elector  of  Upper  Hesse.  Landgrave  George 
of  Upper  Hesse  had  ordered  in  his  will,  that  no  religion 
should  be  introduced  into  Upper  Hesse  except  the  Luth- 
eran. The  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Darmstadt  charged  Mau- 
rice with  breaking  that  clause  in  the  will,  Avhen  he  intro- 
duced the  Reformed  faith  into  Upper  Hesse.  And  yet 
Maurice  had  introduced  the  Reformed  faith  into  Upper 


LANDGRAVE   MAURICE's    REVERSES.  95 

Hesse  eighteen  years  before,  but  nothing  had  been  said  of 
it  till  the  Thirty  Years'  War  exposed  Maurice's  weakness. 
Then  his  rival  and  his  Emperor  took  up  the  matter  against 
him.*  The  Emperor  seems  to  have  gladly  agreed,  for  he 
saw  in  this  another  opportunity  to  get  rid  of  a  Reformed 
prince.  His  decision  was  most  unjust,  for  he  had  not  even 
given  Maurice  a  hearing.  And  to  completely  cripple  Mau- 
rice, the  Emperor  not  only  decided  against  him  that  he 
had  forfeited  the  Upper  Hesse,  but  to  make  it  as  severe 
as  possible,  he  ordered  Maurice  to  pay  seventeen  million 
gulden,  which  was  supposed  to  represent  the  revenues 
Maurice  had  secured  during  the  eighteen  years  he  had  had 
control  of  the  land.  The  Emperor,  to  make  Maurice's 
position  still  more  hopeless,  commanded  him  to  raise  this 
large  sum  of  money  and  leave  Marburg  within  the  very 
short  time  of  six  weeks.  All  this  makes  it  very  evident 
that  the  Emperor  intended  to  crush  him.  The  Emperor 
appointed  the  Electors  of  Cologne  and  Saxony  to  carry  out 
this  decree ;  and  if  they  found  it  necessary,  they  could  call 
to  their  help  the  troops  of  the  Catholic  League.  In  vain 
did  Maurice  and  the  states  of  the  German  empire  protest 
and  appeal  against  this  decision.  Almost  before  Maurice 
was  notified,  Tilly's  army  was  in  the  southern  part  of  his 

-■•  The  truth  of  the  matter  was,  that  Landgrave  Lewis  of  Hesse-Darmstadt 
was  considered  by  the  Protestants  as  "the  Judas  of  the  war,"  as  he  was  always 
playing  into  the  hands  of  the  Emperor,  especially  if  there  would  be  any  per- 
sonal gain  by  it  for  himself.  He,  therefore,  aimed  to  get  Upper  Hesse  in  this 
way. 


96      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

land,  while  the  Elector  of  Cologne  with  the  Landgrave  of 
Hesse-Darmstadt  entered  Upper  Hesse.     They  took  not 
only  Upper  Hesse,  but  also  Smalcald,  Katzelnbogan  and 
other  parts  of  Hesse,  about  which  the  Emperor's  decree 
said  nothing.     Wherever  they  went,  the  Reformed  min- 
isters had  to  flee,  and  Lutherans  were  introduced.     Land- 
grave Lewis  of  Hesse-Darmstadt  took  Marburg  and  sum- 
moned its  Reformed  ministers  before  him.     John  Crocius, 
the  rector  of  the  university,  claimed  that  Landgrave  Mau- 
rice had  not  done  anything  contrary  to  the  will  of  the 
deceased  Landgrave,  or  contrary  to  the  Augsburg  Confes- 
sion, when  he  introduced  the  Reformed  religion.     But  his 
address  had  no  effect.     They  took  from  him  by  force  the 
sceptre,    keys    and    insignia    of    the     university.      The 
Reformed  ministers  were  ordered  to  leave  Marburg  within 
two  days,  or  their  families  Avould  be  put  out  of  their  houses 
into  the  streets.     The  Lutheran  religion  was  re-mtroduced. 
Thus   Marburg   was    the    second    Reformed    university 
io  fall,  as  Heidelberg  had  done  before  it.     All  Lutherdom 
rejoiced   at   the     fall   of    another    Reformed    university. 
Landgrave   Maurice    did    the    best    he    could    for    the 
Reformed.     He  had  started  a  Knights'  School  at  Cassel 
some  years  before,  by  which  he  hoped  to  refine  the   rough 
manners  of  the  German  nobility,  among  many  of  whom 
bull-baiting  and  other  vices  were  prevalent.     He  founded 
this  school  to  divert  their  minds  to  higher  things,  as  the 
arts  and  sciences  and  polite    manners.     This   school  at 


LANDGRAVE    MAURICE's    ABDICATION.  97 

Cassel  Maurice  now  turned  into  a  university  to  take  tlie 
place  of  Marburg.  However  he  did  not  live  to  carry 
this  out,  but  his  son  fulfilled  his  wishes,  and  opened  it  as 
a  university  in  1633,  with  Crocius  as  rector.  It  remained 
at  Cassel  till  the  close  of  the  war. 

After  the  loss  of  Upper  Hesse,  it  looked  as  if  Maurice 
w^ould  lose  Lower  Hesse  too.  For  Landgrave  Lewis  had 
taken  possession  of  parts  of  it,  as  Smalcald  and  Katzeln- 
bogan,  as  pledges  for  the  payment  of  the  seventeen  mil- 
lions gulden.  The  Knights  of  Hesse,  one  of  the  influen- 
tial orders  in  the  Hessian  diets,  became  disaffected  to 
Maurice.  The  Lutherans  in  the  provinces  of  Smalcald 
joined  hands  with  the  Lutherans  of  Upper  Hesse  against 
him.  To  make  his  position  still  more  difficult,  family 
difficulties  arose  between  the  children  of  his  first  and  of 
his  second  marriage.  Maurice  made  a  desperate  attempt 
to  stop  this  tide  of  disintegration  by  joining  the  Confer- 
ence of  the  Saxon  states,  led  by  the  King  of  Denmark. 
But  the  defeat  of  the  King  of  Denmark  made  him  lose 
all  hope.  His  affairs  were  coming  to  a  crisis.  The 
Emperor,  seeing  his  increasing  weakness,  began  to  press 
him  the  more.  He  demanded  that  Maurice  allow  Aus- 
trian garrisons  in  his  forts  as  Cassel,  and  finally  demanded 
that  Maurice  should  abdicate.  Maurice  saw  no  way  of 
averting  the  impending  storm,  but  to  abdicate.  This  he 
did  publicly,  March  17,  1627,  in  the  golden  saloon  of  his 
castle  at  Cassel.     It  was  an  act  of  patriotism  and  self- 


98      THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

denial  to  save  his  country.  He  retired  to  Eschwege. 
But,  though  he  retired,  he  still  watched  the  course  of 
affairs  with  great  interest.  He,  however,  spent  most  of 
his  time  in  the  study  of  alchemy,  poetry,  as  of  Dante  and 
Petrarch,  and  also  of  the  political  works  of  Macchiaveli. 
He  was  true  to  his  name,  the  Learned.  He  died  May  16, 
1632,  having  lived  long  enough  to  see  the  coming  of  the 
Swedes,  at  which  he  greatly  rejoiced. 


CHAPTER  IV.— SECTION  II. 

LANDGRAVE  WILLIAM  V. 

Rarely  did  a  Prince  enter  npon  the  control  of  his  land 
under  more  adverse  circumstances  than  Landgrave  William 
V.  A  large  part  of  his  territory  was  gone.  The  prestige 
and  influence  of  his  line  of  princes  was  lost  by  the  forced 
abdication  of  his  father.  He  was  threatened  by  financial 
bankruptcy  and  surrounded  by  enemies  ready  to  pounce 
upon  him.  Would  he  be  able  to  lead  Hesse-Cassel  out  of 
the  labyrinth  of  woes  in  which  she  was  lost  ?  He  decided 
that  the  best  way  to  begin  to  unravel  the  tangled  knot  of 
political  affairs,  was  to  come  to  some  understanding  with  the 
Landgrave  of  Hesse-Darmstadt,  even  if  he  had  to  make 
some  concessions  to  him.  He  therefore  made  a  treaty  with 
him,  giving  him  Upper  Hesse  forever,  and  giving  Smalcald 
and  Katzelnbogan  as  pledges  for  the  payment  of  the  seven- 
teen million  gulden.  Landgrave  Maurice  protested  against 
this  agreement,  but  the  Emperor  ratified  it,  January  22, 
1628.  As  a  result,  the  Reformed  ministers  were  driven 
out  of  the  districts  of  Smalcald  and  Katzelnbogan,  and 
their  places  were  taken  by  Lutheran  ministers.  Land- 
grave William  then  went  to  Prague  to  personally  inter- 
cede with  the  Emperor,  that  he  would  order  his  troops 


100  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

to  cease  quartering  on  his  laud,  for  they  had  already  cost 
him  seventy  tons  of  gold.  By  a  curious  coincidence  he 
happened  to  arrive  at  Prague  just  at  the  time  when  the 
Emperor  dedicated  a  church  in  memory  of  his  victory  of 
White  Mountain  in  1620.  As  William  crossed  the  bridge 
over  the  Moldau,  he  could  see  the  bleached  heads  and 
hands  of  Frederick's  nobles  hanging  there  as  a  warning  to 
all  heretics  and  traitors.  The  Emperor  tried  to  convert 
him  to  Rome,  as  he  already  had  done  Count  of  Hadamar. 
But  William  was  of  firmer  stuff.  He  became  disgusted 
with  the  superstitions,  and  drinking,  and  gambling  among 
the  nobles  there,  and  after  a  six  weeks'  stay,  he  left  Prague, 
without  having  gained  anything  from  the  Emperor  for 
his  land.  When  the  Edict  of  Restitution  was  issued,  the 
Catholics  took  from  the  Reformed  the  fine  abbey  of  Hers- 
feld,  which  had  been  a  great  Reformed  school.  William 
was  now  very  much  in  the  same  condition  as  his  father 
had  been.  Much  of  his  land  was  in  the  hands  of  his 
enemies.  He  had  made  concessions  to  his  enemies  and 
made  an  agreement  with  Darmstadt,  hoping  that  then  the 
hostile  armies  would  be  taken  out  of  his  land.  But  they 
remained  there  very  much  as  before.  Perplexed  in  every 
way,  he  began  to  think  of  abdicating  too,  as  his  father 
had  done.  His  councillors,  however,  begged  him  not  to  do 
so.  Just  at  this  critical  time  Gustavus  Adolphus  appeared 
on  the  scene.  William  turned  to  the  Swedes  for  aid. 
He  was  the  first  German  Prince  to  join  the  Swedes.    Sev- 


WILLIAM    JOINS   GUSTAVUS.  101 

eral  reasons  prompted  him  to  do  this.  He  was  a  cousin 
of  Gustavus.  Like  his  ancestor  Landgrave  Philip  the 
Magnanimous,  who  defended  the  liberties  of  Germany  a 
century  before,  he  felt  he  must  now  defend  them  against 
the  Emperor's  unjust  acts.  But  his  greatest  reason  was 
the  injustice  of  the  Emperor  to  him.  He  saw  no  hope 
from  the  Emperor.  He  saw  hope  through  the  Swedes. 
The  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Darmstadt  warned  him  against 
joining  the  Swedes,  saying  that  he  would  lose  his  terri- 
tory if  he  did.  William  probably  felt  there  was  not  much 
to  lose  just  then,  because  all  was  then  so  nearly  lost.  He 
brought  an  army  of  10,000  soldiers  into  Gustavus'  army, 
which  did  good  service  for  the  Swedes.  Indeed,  Land- 
grave William  became  one  of  Gustavus'  prominent  gen- 
erals, ranking  next  to  the  distinguished  Duke  Bernard  of 
Weimar.  He  thus  became  the  greatest  of  the  Reformed 
nobles  who  fought  against  the  Emperor.  When  Tilly 
saw  that  William  had  gone  over  to  the  Swedes,  he  started 
to  march  on  Cassel.  But  just  then  the  sudden  victories 
of  Gustavus  called  him  away,  and  Cassel  was  not  attacked. 
The  Reformed  people  of  Hesse  greatly  rejoiced  at  Gus- 
tavus' coming.  After  Gustavus'  victory  at  Leipsic,  Neu- 
berger,  the  chaplain  of  the  Landgrave,  preached  a  sermon 
of  thanksgiving.  William  now  became  strong  enough  to 
drive  out  of  his  land  the  imperial  forces  that  had  so  long 
oppressed  the  Werra  district.  He  was  thus  able  to  re-in- 
troduce  the   Reformed    faith    into    Hersfeld.      He   also 


102  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

marched  against  Upper  Hesse  and  re-captnred  Marburg. 
Then  he  marched  with  Gustavus  Adolphus  in  his  victori- 
ous campaigns  to  southern  Germany,  and  was  with  him 
when  he  fell  at  Lutzen.  He  won  military  honors  at 
Furth.  At  this  time  he  also  gained  a  very  valuable 
officer  for  his  army,  whose  name  was  Peter  Holzapple,  or 
Melander.  He  was  destined  to  become  the  great  general 
of  the  Hessian  armies,  and  the  greatest  Reformed  general 
of  the  war. 

The  defeat  of  the  Swedes  at  IS'ordlingen  turned  tlie 
tide  of  war  against  William  again.  The  imperial  forces 
again  advanced  into  his  territory.  Wherever  they  came, 
the  Reformed  ministers  had  to  flee.  The  next  year  came 
the  fatal  peace  of  Prague,  which,  however,  brought  no 
peace  for  him,  for  the  cruel  Croats  fearfully  ravaged  a 
part  of  his  land.  He  was  repeatedly  urged  by  his  friends 
to  accept  this  peace  of  Prague,  as  almost  all  the  German 
nobles  had  done.  Had  he  done  so,  it  is  not  probable  that 
religious  liberty  would  have  been  accepted  by  Germany, 
or  that  the  Reformed  Church  would  ever  have  been  offici- 
ally recognized  in  Germany.  For  had  he  accepted  the 
peace,  that  would  probably  have  closed  the  war  without 
settling  these  questions  which  were  afterwards  settled  by 
the  peace  of  Westphalia.  These  great  principles,  there- 
fore, depended  on  what  he  would  do.  For  there  were 
only  two  German  princes  who  kept  up  the  war  after  1635. 
They  were  William  and  Duke  Bernard  of  Weimar.     But 


THE   BLOCKADE   OF    HANAU.  103 

William  declared  he  would  not  accept  the  peace  with  the 
Emperor  until  two  things  were  done — (1)  The  territory 
of  Upper  Hesse,  Smalcald  and  Katzelnbogan,  which  had 
been  unjustly  taken  away,  must  be  returned ;  and  (2)  the 
Reformed  faith  must  be  guaranteed  in  his  dominions.  The 
peace  of  Prague  proposed  to  close  the  war  without  bring- 
ing about  these  two  things.  So  William  kept  up  the 
war  for  the  sake  of  Protestantism,  and  the  Reformed 
faith  and  religious  liberty.  He  formed  a  league  with 
the  Swedes  and  the  French,  the  latter  giving  him 
12,000  crowns  and  elevating  him  to  the  rank  of  a  field 
marshal  in  the  army.  He  at  once  signalized  himself  by 
his  relief  of  Hanau,  one  of  the  few  victories  gained  by  the 
Swedes  in  the  years  immediately  after  their  defeat  at 
JSTordlingen.  The  town  of  Hanau  had  been  a  Reformed 
stronghold.  It  had  joined  the  Swedes,  but  its  prince  had 
accepted  the  Peace  of  Prague.  Still  the  Count  of  Hanau 
could  not  deliver  it  to  the  Emperor,  for  it  was  held  by  a 
Swedish  garrison  under  General  Ramsey.  But  the  posi- 
tion was  a  dangerous  one,  for  it  was  the  only  Swedish 
garrison  in  that  part  of  Germany.  The  Emperor  sent  an 
army  to  besiege  it,  and  the  famous  "  blockade  of  Hanau  " 
w^as  begun.  General  Lamboi  shut  the  town  up  November, 
1635.  He  placed  gallows  in  front  of  the  fort  to  frighten 
the  inhabitants  with  the  danger  of  such  a  death.  On 
December  14  the  Reformed  had  a  day  of  prayer,  to  ask 
the  Lord  to  deliver  them  in  their  time  of  need.     They 


104  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

also  had  another  day  of  prayer,  January  31,  1636.  On 
February  1 ,  the  members  of  the  Reformed  church  took 
the  communion.  For  they  were  in  great  need.  Famine 
was  threatening  the  city.  The  enemy  spread  wild  alarms 
by  shooting  fire  balls  into  the  city,  so  as  to  set  the  build- 
ings on  fire.  They  shot  139  of  them  into  the  town.  They 
also  shot  Avhat  was  called  ^^  beggar's  sacks,"  which  con- 
tained silk,  mixed  with  powder,  iron  and  balls.  These  set 
fire  to  whatever  they  struck.  A  ball  struck  the  French 
Reformed  church,  rebounded  at  a  pillar  and  then  wxnt 
through  four  seats  (the  marks  of  it  are  still  shown).  The 
plague  now  broke  out  in  the  city.  But  Lamboi's  troops 
were  also  suffering  from  hunger.  They  had  so  badly 
devastated  the  country  around  the  city  that  nothing  was 
left  even  for  them  to  eat.  In  May,  1636,  Lamboi  more 
closely  invested  the  city  than  before,  but  Ramsey  defended 
it  with  great  ability  and  bravery.  It  was  at  this  critical 
moment  that  Landgrave  William  came  to  its  aid.  He 
suddenly  appeared  June  13,  1636,  with  6,000  men  and 
attacked  the  Austrians.  The  Austrians,  taken  by  surprise, 
were  hemmed  in  between  William's  army  and  the  defenders 
of  the  town.  William's  army  advanced  and  soon  forced 
them  away  on  one  side  and  formed  a  union  with  the  gar- 
rison through  the  [N^uremberg  gate.  This  lifted  the 
blockade  of  seven  months.  The  Swedish  General  Leslie 
made  an  entrance  through  that  gate  into  the  city.  Great 
was  the  joy  of  the   Reformed   inhabitants.     They  looked 


OPPRESSIONS   OF   HESSE.  105 

upon  his  coming  as  an  answer  to  their  prayers.  As  soon 
as  the  battle  was  over,  William  went  to  the  Reformed 
church  in  the  old  city  of  Hanau  to  return  thanks  to  the 
Lord  for  the  victory,  and  he  scattered  1,000  ricksthalers 
to  the  poor  of  the  three  congregations.  He  then  drove  the 
enemy  away  from  the  right  bank  of  the  Main  river.  He 
left  on  June  16,  leaving  General  Eamsey  with  2,000  men 
as  a  garrison.* 

The  capture  of  Hanau  made  a  deep  impression  on 
Germany.  The  Protestants  rejoiced  and  built  high  hopes 
on  it  that  it  had  turned  the  tide  of  war,  which  had  been 
going  against  the  Swedes  ever  since  the  battle  of  Nord- 
lingen.  It,  however,  alarmed  the  imperial  forces,  and 
they  began  massing  against  Hesse-Cassel  to  crush  William. 
They  came  again  into  Hesse-Cassel.  The  imperial  general 
Gotz  fearfully  ravaged  the  land.  One  hundred  ministers 
were  either  maltreated  or  had  to  pay  a  ransom  for  their 
release.  At  Hersfeld,  Piscator,  the  rector  of  the  Reformed 
gymnasium,  had  to  save  his  life  from  the  Croats  by  flight, 
and  the  gymnasium  was  closed  for  eighteen  years.  At 
Treysa  the  Reformed  minister  died,  wounded  with  seven 
wounds.      In    February,    Gallas,    the   imperial    general, 

"-■•  (See  Book  I.,  Chapter  III.,  Section  II,)  For  this  relief  of  Hanau  the 
Reformed  observ^ed  June  22,  1636,  as  a  day  of  prayer,  and  continued  it  yearly 
afterwards.  By  1645  they  kept  June  13,  as  that  day  of  prayer  and  thanks- 
giving. This  day  was  observed  by  them  for  more  than  a  century.  The 
Hanau  people  never  forgot  the  kindness  of  the  Hessians  in  coming  to  their 
aid.  An  ample  return  was  made  to  the  Hessians,  when  in  1736  the  province 
of  Hanau  fell  to  Hesse-Cassel. 


106  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

ravaged  the  Werra  and  Fulda  districts,  burned  two  hun- 
dred villages,  and  put  one-third  of  the  population  to  the 
sword.     William's  position  w^as  in  the  meanwhile  becom- 
ing more  and  more  desperate.    The  Emperor  took  advan- 
tage of  his   extremity  to  do  to  him   as   he   had  done  to 
Frederick  of  the  Palatinate.     He,  by  an  order,  November 
21,  1636,  deposed  William  and  put  him  under  the  ban  of 
the  empire.     He  appointed  William's  rival,  the  Landgrave 
of  Hesse  Darmstadt,   the  administrator  of  Hesse-Cassel. 
The  latter  had  now  gotten  what  he  had  been  seeking  a 
long  time,  namely,  the  privilege  of  taking  possession  of 
William's    land.      Thus   the   Emperor   tried  to   destroy 
another  Reformed  land,  and  deposed  the  second  Reformed 
Prince  of  the  empire.     The  Hessians,  however,  loved  their 
ruler.     And  the  northern  part,  especially  the  forts,   were 
still  in  possession  of  William's  forces.    It  became  evident, 
however,  that  William  must  seek  some  other  land  for  an 
asylum,  until  the  Swedes  and  French  could  give  him  the 
aid  required  to  redeem  his  losses.     Too  much  was  depend- 
ing on  his  solitary  life  to  allow  him  to  be  in  any  danger  of 
being  captured  by  the  Emperor.     So  they  decided  that  he 
must  seek  an  asylum  in  East  Friesland.     Here,  if  driven 
out  of  Germany,   he  could  go  either   to   Holland   or  to 
Sweden.     The  Count  of  Friesland  had  been  neutral  dur- 
ing the  war,  and  objected  to  William's  coming,   but  when 
William  appeared  with  his  army  of  11,000,  and  when  a 
Dutch  man-of-war  appeared  at  the  mouth  of  the   Ems 


THE    DEATH    OF    WILLIAM.  107 

river,  he  submitted.  But  although  William  persisted  in 
not  surrendering  to  the  Emperor,  he  was  compelled  to  sur- 
render to  a  greater  than  the  Emperor.  For  death,  the 
king  of  terrors,  laid  hold  of  him  at  Leer  in  East  Friesland, 
September  17,  1637.  Rumor  has  it  that  he  was  secretly 
poisoned  by  the  enemy,  which  is  quite  likely,  as  Duke 
Bernard  of  Weimar  was  poisoned  some  years  afterward. 
For  when  the  imperialists  found  they  could  not  conquer 
their  enemies  fairly,  they  sometimes  resorted  to  poison  to 
get  rid  of  them.  (Even  Gustavus  himself  is  said  to  have 
been  killed  by  an  assassin  in  his  own  army.)  William's 
death  was  very  unfortunate.  For  with  the  returning  tide 
of  victory  which  soon  afterwards  came  to  the  Hessians,  it  is 
altogether  probable  that  with  his  military  skill  he  would 
have  gone  southward  through  Germany  in  a  magnificent 
campaign  of  victory,  like  a  second  Gustavus  Adolphus. 
But  he  gained  a  higher  victory,  for  his  faith  shone  out 
before  dying.  He  comforted  himself  with  the  125th 
Psalm,  "  The  rod  of  the  wicked  shall  not  rest  on  the  lot 
of  the  righteous."  They  might  try  to  take  away  his 
country,  but  they  could  not  take  away  his  faith,  and  he 
felt  that  as  sure  as  there  was  a  just  God  in  heaven,  his 
land  would  be  freed  from  the  unjust  rod  of  Austria. 


CHAPTER  ly.— SECTION  III. 
THE  VICTORY  OF  LANDGRAVINE  AMALIE  ELIZABETH. 
AVhen  WiHiam  died,  it  seemed  as  if  Hesse-Cassel  would 
be  lost,  and  with  her  the  rights  of  the  Protestants  and  of 
the  Reformed  Church,  of  which  she  was  ahnost  the  last 
bulwark.  After  Landgrave  William's  death  only  one 
German  prince  remained  in  rebellion  against  the  Empe- 
ror, Duke  Bernard  of  Weimar.  It  looked  as  if  the  Pro- 
testant cause  were  almost  lost.  But  mcm\s  extremity  is 
umnan's  opportunity.  There  rose  up  a  Reformed  Joan 
of  Arc,  Landgravine  Amalie  Elizabeth,  William's  wife, 
to  lead  the  German  Protestants  and  the  Reformed  back 
to  victory.  She  did  not  do  it,  as  did  the  French  Joan  of 
Arc,  by  appearing  on  the  battlefield,  but  by  the  shrewd- 
ness of  her  diplomacy.  She  has  been  compared  to  the 
ancient  prophetess  of  Israel,  and  has  been  called  the 
Reformed  Deborah.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Countess 
Catharine  Belgica  of  Hanau,  and  so  was  the  great-grand- 
daughter of  William  the  Silent.  From  him  she  inherited 
"his  wisdom  and  his  eagle  eye."  She  was  a  great 
descendant  from  great  ancestors.  But  great  were  the 
odds  against  her.  She  ascended  the  throne  in  the  darkest 
davs  of  that   most   terrible   war.     If  the   situation   was 


LANDGRAVINE  AMALIE  OF  HESSE  CASSEL. 


AMALIE   ASSUMES    CONTROL.  109 

critical  when  her  husband  ascended  the  throne,  it  was 
more  so  when  she  ascended  it.  A  large  part  of  her  land 
was  in  the  hands  of  her  enemy.  The  debt  on  the  land 
was  590,000  thalers,  and  she  and  her  family  were  in 
exile  in  East  Friesland.  To  make  her  condition  still 
more  desperate,  the  Emperor  declared  that  her  husband^s 
will,  which  made  his  son  his  successor,  was  void,  and 
gave  the  land  to  the  administratorship  of  her  enemy,  the 
Landgrave  of  Hesse  Darmstadt.  This  usurpation  thor- 
oughly aroused  her.  AVith  the  courage  of  a  lioness  she 
proceeded  to  battle  for  her  son's  rights.  As  regent  for 
her  son,  she  began  warlike  operations.  Her  husband  had 
fortunately  left  her  15,000  excellently  drilled  soldiers. 
She  appointed  Melander  as  her  commander.  He  had 
years  before  won  laurels  in  the  Swiss  and  Venetian  ser- 
vice, had  been  a  pupil  in-  war  of  Prince  Maurice  of 
Orange,  and  completed  his  military  education  under  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus.  He  it  was  who  brought  discipline  into 
the  Hessian  army,  which  enabled  it  to  gain  victories,  as 
at  Oldendorf  (1633).  The  Emperor  saw  the  value  of 
Melander  as  a  general,  and  had  tried  to  bribe  him  over 
to  his  service.  He  offered  him  a  county  in  Julich,  and 
an  annual  pension  of  10,000  thalers,  and  the  position  of 
general.  But  Melander  was  incorruptible  and  refused, 
saying  he  was  a  German  and  a  Wester walder,*  and  that 

*■  Westerwald  was  a  district  in  Nassau,  and  he  meant  that  he  was  so 
intensely  German,  as  to  be  a  double  German.  Prince  Maui'ice  of  Orange  once 
said  that  a  Westerwalder  outwei2;hed  two  other  Germans. 


110  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

he  would  rather  be  a  geoeral  of  the  Hessian  army,  than 
one  among  the  twenty-eight  generals  of  the  Emperor's 
army.  The  Emperor  also  tried  hard  to  get  Amalie  to 
come  to  terms  Avith  him.  He  was  so  anxious  that  he 
asked  the  Elector  of  Mayence  to  get  her  to  name  her  con- 
ditions. She  replied  that  she  would  not  make  peace,  till 
Hesse-Cassel  was  given  back  her  territory,  and  the 
Reformed,  who  had  been  ignored  by  the  Peace  of  Prague, 
were  given  their  rights.  MeauAvhile  the  French  labored 
hard  to  prevent  her  from  coming  to  terms  with  the 
Emperor.  Negotiations  were  thus  kept  up  for  two  years. 
During  that  time  she  kept  the  Emperor  in  hopes,  and  at 
the  same  time  wrung  from  the  French  subsidies  of  150,- 
000  gulden.  Finally  she  refused  the  Emperor,  partly 
because  he  would  not  agree  to  toleration  of  her  Reformed 
religion.  So  in  1640  she  began  to  move  her  forces  for- 
ward again  into  AVestphalia,  supported  on  one  side  by  the 
Swedes  and  on  the  other  by  the  French.  She  contrived 
to  have  her  little  land  placed  on  an  equal  footing  with 
these  great  powers.  But,  although  she  thus  pressed  the 
war,  a  strong  peace  party  appeared  in  Hesse-Cassel,  led 
by  Melander.  He  had  lost  faith  in  the  Swedes  and 
French,  and  believed  that  these  foreigners  were  keeping 
up  this  war  at  the  expense  of  Germany,  in  order  to  gain 
their  own  purposes.  He  held  that  Germany  must  save 
herself,  and  that  Hesse  must  break  loose  from  these  for- 
eigners.    The  result  was,  that  he  was  compelled  to  retire 


MELANDER   BECOMES    COMMANDER.  Ill 

from  her  service,  after  having  led  the  Hessian  army  to 
glorious  victories  at  Neustadt,  Paderborn  and  Hameln. 
He  retired  from  military  service  to  Esteraii,  and  made 
Esthen  his  capital.  In  1641,  after  he  had  become  recon- 
ciled to  the  Emperor,  the  Emperor  elevated  him  to  the 
rank  of  a  noble,  and  in  1642  made  him  field  marshal. 
The  Emperor  promoted  him  to  be  commander  of  his 
forces  in  Westphalia  in  1645.  Now  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  facts  about  the  close  of  this  war  was  the  loss 
of  first-class  generals  by  the  Emperor.  One  by  one 
(Tilly,  Wallenstein  and  others)  they  had  either  died  or 
left  his  service.  Gallas  was  a  drunkard,  and  was  nick- 
named ^^  the  army  corruptor.'^  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Swedes  and  French  were  bringing  out  new  and  first-class 
generals,  as  Turenne  and  Conde  among  the  French,  and 
Wrangel  and  Baner  among  the  Swedes.  As  the  Empe- 
ror's best  generals  were  all  gone,  he  was  compelled,  as  a 
last  resort,  to  appoint  Melander  his  general.  What  a 
grim  commentary  of  providence,  that  after  the  Emperor 
had  been  fighting  the  Calvinists  for  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, he  should  have  to  call  a  Calvinist  to  lead  his  forces. 
How  significant  are  the  reverses,  yes  the  revenges  of  his- 
tory, that  the  Emperor  had  to  call  one  of  the  sect,  which 
he  had  tried  so  hard  to  destroy,  to  come  and  save  him  at 
the  end  of  the  war.  We  do  not  defend  Melander  for 
leading  a  Romish  army  against  the  Protestant  cause.  But 
no  one  can  question  the  honesty  of  the  man.     He  really 


112  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

believed  that  Germany  was  a  prey  to  foreigners,  as  the 
Swedes  and  the  French,  and  he  wanted  to  see  the  land 
delivered  from  them.  Xor  is  there  any  question  about 
his  intense  devotion  to  the  Reformed  faith.  He  used 
every  eifort  to  re-introduce  it  in  his  little  county,  from 
which  the  Count  of  Hadamer  had  cast  it  out,  and  also  at 
Vienna  with  the  court.  He  soon  began  operations  against 
the  Hessians  and  the  Swedes.  He  marched  against  Mar- 
burg, when,  on  December  29,  1647,  a  shot  wounded  him 
so  severely  that  it  was  thought  he  would  bleed  to  death. 
When  after  a  long  illness  he  was  again  able  to  take  com- 
mand of  the  army,  he  found  that  the  fortunes  of  the  war 
were  against  him.  He  tried  to  introduce  discipline  into 
the  army,  as  Gustavus  had  done,  but  the  wild  Austrian 
hordes  would  not  obey,  and  the  soldiers  grumbled  at  it. 
Besides,  the  Romish  officers  did  not  forget  that  he  was  a 
Protestant.  They  had  complained  against  his  appoint- 
ment at  first,  and  were  lukewarm  to  him  afterward.  His 
colleague  Gronsfeld  would  not  agree  Avith  him.  All  these 
things  made  his  career  more  hopeless  now.  The  truth 
was  that  the  fortunes  of  the  war  had  passed  from  the 
battle-field  to  diplomacy.  He  was,  therefore,  compelled 
to  retreat  before  the  Swedish,  French  and  Hessian  armies. 
In  this  retreat  his  rear  guard  was  attacked  near  Augs- 
burg. He  hurried  back  to  stop  its  flight,  when  he  was 
fatally  wounded  by  two  balls  in  the  breast.  But  he  still 
liad  the  spirit  of  the  hero,  for  he   said  to  the  officer  Avho 


DEATH    OF    MELANDER.  113 

came  to  help  him,  "  Do  not  think  of  me ;  I  am  dead. 
Hasten  to  get  over  the  stream,  if  you  would  save  the  for- 
tunes of  the  Emperor.  Forward  !  forward  !"  He  was 
carried  to  Augsburg,  where  he  died.  His  Reformed  chap- 
lain preached  a  funeral  sermon  based  on  2  Chronicles  35  ; 
23,  comparing  him  with  Joseph.  His  embalmed  body 
was  brought  with  military  honors  under  a  guard  of  380 
cavalry  to  Ratisbon,  where  it  was  to  have  been  buried. 
But  when  the  Lutherans  found  out  that  he  was  Reformed, 
they  would  not  let  him  be  buried  in  their  church.  It  was 
finally  taken  to  his  little  land  of  Esterau,  where  it  was 
buried  in  the  family  vault.  There  is  a  statue  of  him  over 
the  grave,  and  another  in  a  niche  in  the  castle  at  Schaum- 
burg.  One  of  the  greatest  men  of  the  war,  he  rose  from 
an  humble  birth  to  highest  rank.  He  was  so  deeply 
attached  to  the  Reformed  faith  that  he  wanted  his  son  to 
become  a  Reformed  minister  and  take  charge  of  the 
Reformed  church  at  Langenscheid.  After  his  death  his 
widow  had  the  Reformed  faith  introduced  into  his  laud. 
While  the  brave  Melander  was  thus  suffering  defeat 
after  defeat.  Landgravine  Amalie  was  gaining  victories. 
Supported  by  the  French  and  the  Swedes,  she  became  a  con- 
trolling power  at  the  end  of  the  war.  Although  the  ruler 
of  only  a  small  German  state,  she  was  the  equal  of  France 
and  Sweden  in  the  peace  negotiations.  One  of  the  Em- 
peror's friends  had  said  :  "  It  was  a  shame  that  so  small  a 
duchy  should  dictate  terms  to  the  Emperor."     The  Bava- 


114  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

rian  general  Gronsfeld  said  :  ''  Amalie  has  gained  immor- 
tal fame,  for  she  has  gained  toleration  for  her  Reformed 
religion  which  had  been  cast  off  by  the  Empire.  She 
holds  the  balance  of  power  in  her  hands.''  Victorious  in 
war,  by  her  great  diplomatic  skill  she  also  gained  victo- 
ries in  the  peace  negotiations.  She  compelled  Hesse 
Darmstadt  to  give  back  to  her  Upper  Hesse,  Smalcald  and 
Katzelnbogen.  She  also  received  in  addition  half  of  the 
county  of  Schaumburg,  containing  in  it  the  Lutheran  Uni- 
versity of  Rinteln.  The  Emperor  granted  her  the  exer- 
cise of  her  Reformed  religion.  The  Romanists  were  com- 
pelled to  give  back  the  Abbey  of  Hersfeld  to  the  Re- 
formed, and  it  afterwards  became  a  great  Reformed  gym- 
nasium. At  the  close  of  the  war  she  laid  down  the 
regency  of  her  land,  and  her  son,  William  VL,  became 
Landgrave.  She  was  greatly  idolized  by  her  people.  On 
a  visit  to  Heidelberg  in  1651  she  was  greeted  by  the 
people  as  the  "  Reformed  Deborah."  She  said  she  would 
rather  lose  everything  than  give  up  her  Reformed  reli- 
gion. The  Danish  ambassador  bore  testimony  to  her 
great  love  for  the  Reformed,  for  he  called  her  an  arch 
Calvinist.  She  died  August  8,  1651.  She  greatly  loved 
her  Reformed  Church,  which  Avas  the  constant  recipient  of 
her  bounty.     On  her  coins  is  the  motto  : 

"Against  might  and  craft 
God  is  my  rock." 


CHAPTER  V. 
THE  VACILLATIONS  OF  BRANDENBURG. 

The  three  great  powers  of  Germany  that  adopted  the 
Reformed  faith  were  the  Palatinate,  Hesse-Cassel  and  Bran- 
denburg, the  rest  being  small  counties  like  Nassau  or  free 
cities  like  Bremen.  After  the  fall  of  the  Elector  of  the 
Palatinate,  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  naturally  became 
the  greatest  Reformed  prince  of  Germany.  He  should 
have  stood  forth  as  their  great  protector.  But  unfortu- 
nately, to  make  their  condition  still  more  pitiable,  this 
prince,  George  William,  was  a  mild,  timid  man.  He  was 
not  the  energetic,  far-seeing  man  that  the  times  demanded. 
He  had  not  the  decision  of  character  of  his  father  who  left 
the  Lutheran  faith  to  become  Reformed,  or  of  his  son  who 
became  the  great  protector  of  the  Reformed.  Still,  we 
must  not  judge  him  too  harshly,  for  there  Avere  certain 
circumstances  that  tended  to  make  such  a  timid  man  more 
timid. 

The  first  was  a  religious  one.  While  he  was  Reformed, 
his  subjects  were  intensely  Lutheran.  Among  the  thous- 
ands of  Lutherans  in  his  province,  there  were  only  three 
small    Reformed    congregations    in    Brandenburg     and 


116  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

Prussia.*  And  not  only  were  the  Reformed  congregations 
few  and  small,  but  the  zeal  and  bigotry  of  the  Lutherans 
was  intense.  So  on  account  of  the  intense  opposition  of 
the  Lutherans  to  the  Reformed,  the  Elector  had  to  be  cau- 
tious. A  second  reason  for  his  timidity  was  a  geographical 
one.  His  country  was  composed  of  three  provinces — 
Prussia  in  the  east,  Brandenburg  west  of  it  (Poland  cut  up 
Prussia  into  two  divisions),  and  then  in  the  western  part  of 
Germany  the  Rhine  province.  All  of  these  were  sepa- 
rated from  each  other  by  strips  of  territory.  He  was  there- 
fore weak  politically.  Besides,  Prussia,  his  eastern  prov- 
ince, was  intensely  Lutheran.  When  his  father  died,  a 
plot  was  formed  to  prevent  him  from  reigning  over 
Prussia  because  he  was  not  a  Lutheran.  They  hoped  to 
make  his  younger  brother  the  ruler.  Strange  to  say,  his 
mother  who  was  an  intense  Lutheran,  helped  on  the  plot. 
His  father  heard  of  this.  And  so  his  father,  before  he 
died,  had  him  crowned,  so  that  there  might  be  no  trouble 
about  the  succession  after  his  death.  His  father  also  sent 
the  younger  son  to  Sedan,  to  a  Reformed  court  to  be  edu- 
cated, where  he  afterwards  joined  the  Reformed  Church. 


*  The  first  was  at  Berlin  in  the  cathedral  where  the  Elector  and  his  family 
worshipped.  A  second  was  at  Frankford  on  the  Oder,  where  he  had  his 
Reformed  university,  whose  Reformed  professors  became  the  nucleus  for 
another  Reformed  congregation.  They  worshipped  in  the  aula  of  the  univer- 
sity until  the  next  Elector  gave  them  a  building  in  1656.  A  third  congrega- 
tion was  at  Konigsberg,  but  there  they  were  not  permitted  to  have  a  church  in 
the  town,  only  to  have  private  services  in  the  castle.  This  congregation  did 
not  have  a  regular  pastor  till  1636,  when  Agricola  came. 


THE   elector's    TIMIDITY.  117 

Thus  the  plot  was  defeated^  but  it  showed  that  the  Elector 
could  not  count  on  much  sympathy  or  aid  from  Prussia, 
especially  as  Poland  was  always  ready  to  incite  its  inhabi- 
tants against  him,  so  as  to  gain  control  of  it  if  possible. 

A  third  reason  w^as,  that  strange  to  say,  he  had  a 
Catholic  for  his  prime  minister,  Count  Adam  of  Schwartz- 
enburg.  This  man,  unknown  to  him,  was  secretly  in  the 
pay  of  the  Emperor,  and  was  the  evil  spirit  of  the  Elector, 
thwarting  his  plans  and  frightening  him. 

Fourthly,  the  circumstances  of  the  war  proved  to  be  very 
ominous,  and  made  him  the  more  timid.  The  Emperor 
knew  how  to  alarm  such  a  timid  prince.  When  King 
Frederick,  his  brother-in-law,  was  defeated  at  Prague,  the 
Lutherans  in  his  provinces  were  very  jubilant  over  it.  He 
was  afraid  of  this  fanaticism  of  his  Lutheran  subjects 
against  Frederick.  And  he  was  also  afraid  of  the  anger  of 
the  Emperor,  who  might  punish  him  for  any  favor  show^n 
to  Frederick,  although  he  was  his  brother-in-law.  He 
gave  Frederick  a  temporary  shelter  in  the  fortress  of  Cus- 
trin.  But  it  was  a  lonely  place,  and  Frederick  soon  had 
to  remove  his  family  to  Berlin.  From  there  they  were 
removed  to  Brunswick  and  finally  to  Holland.  When 
Frederick  was  put  under  the  ban.  Elector  George  William 
refused  to  protect  him,  and  Frederick  had  to  leave.  His 
timidity  w^as  increased  when  soon  after  the  Emperor  caused 
the  abdication  of  Landgrave  Maurice  of  Hesse-Cassel.  He 
became  afraid  lest  the  Emperor  would  do  something  that 


118  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

would  compel  him  to  retire  from  his  throne.  This  fear 
was  heightened  when  Wallenstein  came  with  his  wild 
hordes.  The  Emperor  had  deposed  two  of  the  neigh- 
boring princes,  the  Dukes  of  Mecklenburg  (one  of  them 
Reformed)  and  had  given  their  dominions  to  Wallenstein. 
This  greatly  alarmed  George  William.  It  was  very 
evident  that  Wallenstein  was  after  George  William's 
electorate.  For  he  quartered  his  troops  in  Brandenburg, 
where  they  performed  all  sorts  of  injustice  and  robbery. 
He  hoped  thus  to  incite  the  inhabitants  to  some  sort  of  a 
revolt  that  might  be  construed  into  a  rebellion  against 
the  Emperor,  and  then  he  could  seize  the  Elector's  terri- 
tory and  have  himself  made  Elector,  just  as  he  had  been 
unjustly  made  Duke  of  Mecklenburg.  The  oppressions 
on  the  Elector  were  increased  by  the  Edict  of  Restitution, 
which  took  away  from  him  the  Bishopric  of  Brandenburg 
and  three  other  places. 

The  year  1631  brought  relief,  as  Gustavus  Adolphus 
landed  in  Germany,  but  it  brought  no  relief  to  the  Re- 
formed in  Brandenburg,  but  rather  greater  suffering. 
For  the  Swedes  captured  Frankford  on  the  Oder,  where 
the  Reformed  University  Avas  located.  This  city  had  been 
overrun  with  marching  armies.  First  Wallenstein  came, 
then  Tilly.  But  strange  to  say,  even  Gustavus  put  the 
climax  to  its  sufferings.  Gustavus  usually  was  merciful, 
but  here  was  most  unmerciful.  Tilly  had  left  a  garrison 
of  5,000  in  the  city.     The  Swedes  appeared  before  it  with 


THE  PLUNDERING  OF  FRANKFORD.        119 

14,000  men,  and  on  the  17th  of  April  it  fell.  Most  ter- 
rible was  the  result.  The  Swedes,  who  usually  preserved 
strict  discipline,  did  not  do  so  here.  For  twelve  long 
hours  the  town  was  given  up  to  plunder.  The  Swedes 
said  this  plundering  was  allowed  in  return  for  the  previous 
cruelty  of  the  Austrians  at  New  Brandenburg.  There  the 
imperial  soldiers  had  surrounded  a  detachment  of  Swedes, 
and  most  cruelly  cut  them  to  pieces  to  a  man.  The  Swedes 
had  not  forgotten  this,  and  avenged  themselves  at  Frank- 
ford.  When  an  imperialist  there  cried  for  quarter,  they 
replied,  "  New  Brandenburg  quarter,^'  and  slaughtered 
without  mercy.  In  the  plundering  that  took  place  many 
of  the  inhabitants  were  murdered  and  twenty  houses 
burned.  Of  course  the  Reformed  suffered  in  this  plunder- 
ing. Professor  Franck  came  very  nearly  losing  his  life 
five  times.  The  other  Reformed  professor,  Pelargus,  lost 
his  furniture,  but  his  library  was  saved. "^  This  siege  was 
followed  by  the  plague,  which  had  so  ravaged  the  town 
before,  in  1625,  that  the  university  had  been  moved  to 
Furstenwald.  Then  the  imperial  troops  came  again  and 
captured  the  town,  after  which  it  was  again  captured  by 
the  Elector  and  the  Swedish  general  Bauer.     The  terrors 

•••  There  is  a  rumor  that  he  lost  his  library.  And  when  he  appeared  before 
the  King  of  Sweden,  asking  that  it  be  returned,  the  King  told  him  to  replace 
his  disgraceful,  corrupt  compendium  in  its  original  state,  and  then  he  would 
restore  it.  This  meant  that  Pelargus  should  replace  his  Reformed  faith  with 
the  Lutheran  doctrines,  which  he  used  to  teach.  But  he  did  not  go  back  to 
the  Lutheran  faith,  as  Gustavus  suggested,  and  the  next  Elector  gave  his 
library  to  the  university. 


120  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

of  war  seem  to  have  hung  over  the  place  until  1644,  when 
the  new  Elector,  Frederick  William,  protected  it  through 
his  activity. 

The  Elector  of  Brandenburg  (although  Gustavus  was 
a  near  relative,  and  was  his  natural  ally  against  the 
oppressions  of  the  Emperor  and  Wallenstein),  with  his 
usual  hesitation  and  timidity  hesitated  to  join  the  Swedes, 
although  his  people  were  very  anxious  to  do  so.  It  was 
not  till  Gustavus'  cannons  were  thundering  at  the  gates  of 
Berlin  and  threatening  the  city,  that  he  made  an  alliance 
with  him. 

The  conference  between  the  Lutherans  and  the  Reformed 
theologians  at  Leipsic  we  will  give  in  another  chapter. 
Neither  have  we  time  to  enter  into  the  dreadful  devasta- 
tions of  Brandenburg,  after  the  battle  of  Nordlingen. 
Brandenburg  suffered  very  much  like  the  other  lands. 
Berlin  only  escaped  by  giving  large  bounties  to  the  theaten- 
ing  armies.  Already  in  1637  there  were  in  Berlin  168 
empty  houses,  and  many  of  those  inhabited  had  only 
widows  and  orphans.  The  Elector  accepted  the  Peace  of 
Prague,  but  as  most  of  his  subjects  were  Lutherans,  its 
omission  of  the  Reformed  did  not  aifect  his  land  very 
much,  for  he  was  strong  enough  to  protect  the  few  Re- 
formed there. 

George  William  died  in  1640.  And  yet  in  spite  of  his 
vacillations,  there  are  two  things  for  which  he  must  receive 
credit.     The  first  was  his  adherence  to  religious  liberty. 


ELECTOR    GEORGE    WILLIAM.  121 

For  in  his  alliance  with  the  Swedes  he  insisted  that  relig- 
ious liberty  should  prevail  throughout  Germany.  ''  This/^ 
says  Gindely,  the  great  historian  ofthe war/ "gave  George 
William  a  solitary  place  among  the  Princes  of  Europe.'^ 
But  in  this  he  was  only  following  his  father,  who  in  1614 
declared  religious  liberty  for  his  land.  This  was  sixty 
years  before  the  Pilgrims  landed  in  New  England.  Long 
before  the  Puritans  had  learned  religious  liberty  (for  they 
drove  out  Roger  Williams,  and  did  not  cease  persecuting 
the  Quakers  till  long  after  this),  he  emphasized  religious 
freedom.  The  Elector  thus  showed  that  he  comprehended 
that  one  of  the  great  issues  at  stake  in  the  war  was  free- 
dom of  conscience.  The  other  act  for  which  he  is  to  be  com- 
mended, is  the  gift  to  the  Reformed  Church  of  the  cathe- 
dral at  Berlin  to  be  Reformed  forever.  This  church  was 
the  church  of  the  ruling  line  of  Piinces.  It  was  therefore 
of  the  same  faith  as  the  Prince.  George  William,  fearing 
lest  some  of  his  descendants  might  turn  to  some  other 
religion,  gave  it  forever  to  the  Reformed.  This  was  the 
more  important,  for  it  was  the  only  Reformed  place  of 
worship  in  Berlin,  and  if  it  were  taken  from  the  Reformed, 
they  Avould  have  no  place  in  which  to  worship.  The  deed 
declares  that  if  any  of  his  successors  went  over  to  another 
faith,  the  church  should  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  presby- 
terium  of  the  Reformed  congregation.  It  orders  that  it 
shall  have  none  but  Reformed  ministers  and  use  none  but 
Reformed  orders  of  worship.  This  guaranteed  the  future 
9 


122  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

existence  of  the  Reformed  iu  Berlin,  and  as  tins  was  the 
leading  city  in  Brandenburg,  it  guaranteed  their  existence 
in  that  province.* 

The  new  Elector,  Frederick  William,  was  a  very  differ- 
ent man  from  his  father,  as  decided  as  his  father  was  timid. 
He  was  aggressive  in  his  policy,  and  soon  made  the  Em- 
peror, already  weakened  by  the  costs  of  the  long  w^ar, 
begin  to  feel  his  power.  The  Elector  gradually  separated 
from  the  Emperor,  whom  his  father  had  joined  in  the 
Peace  of  Prague,  by  becoming  neutral.  And  when  the 
imperial  army  began  oppressing  his  land,  he  beheaded  a 
few  of  the  offenders,  and  after  that  they  made  no  more 
attempts  at  oppressing  him.  When  he  ascended  the  throne, 
he  found  that  his  father  had  not  really  ruled,  but  that  his 
prime  minister.  Count  Adam  Schwarzenburg,  ruled  in 
the  Mark  Brandenburg,  and  the  Dutch  and  Spaniards  in 
Westphalia.  He  soon  showed  his  ability  by  bringing 
order  out  of  chaos,  and  gaining  the  control  of  those  prov- 
inces for  himself.  In  the  peace  negotiations  v/hich  closed 
the  war,  he  became  very  active.  Here  he  especially 
showed  his  love  for  the  Reformed  faith.     (He  was  a  pious 

*  How  sadly  this  gift  and  last  will  of  George  William  have  been  perverted. 
The  present  cathedral  is  no  more  like  a  Reformed  church  than  night  is  like 
day.  Its  service  of  responses,  its  altar,  its  crosses  and  boy  choir  are  far 
removed  from  the  simplicity  of  the  Reformed  service,  and  smack  of  the  High 
Church  Anglicanism,  which  the  later  Kings  of  Prussia  have  aped.  Besides, 
none  of  its  pastors  at  present  are  Reformed,  and  there  has  not  been  for  years  a 
Reformed  minister  among  its  pastors.  All  this  came  about  through  the  union 
of  the  Reformed  and  Lutherans  in  1817,  which  aimed  to  swallow  up  the  Re- 
formed in  it. 


THE    PEACE    NEGOTIATIONS.  123 

PriDce.  He  loved  prayer  and  had  an  abiding  hope  in 
God.  His  motto  was  Psalm  143,  "  Lord,  cause  me  to 
know  the  way  wherein  I  should  walk.") 

He  showed  his  special  love  for  the  Reformed  by  insist- 
ing in  the  peace  negotiations  that  they  should  be  recog- 
nized and  named  in  that  peace.  He  instructed  his  ambas- 
sador in  the  negotiations  to  demand  for  the  Reformed  the 
same  rights  and  concessipus  as  were  made  to  the  other 
religions.  The  Catholics  did  not  oppose  this,  only  saying 
it  should  be  granted,  if  the  Reformed  would  remain  quiet, 
which  the  Reformed  considered  a  quite  unnecessary  remark, 
as  they  had  been  quiet.  The  Lutherans  of  Germany,  how- 
ever, objected,  especially  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  Darm- 
stadt, and  Wellern,  the  court  preacher  of  Saxony.  Indeed, 
if  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  had  not  been  so  firm,  and 
urged  the  matter  with  unabated  zeal  and  industry,  it  would 
not  have  been  brought  to  pass.  The  Reformed  Church 
would  have  lost  its  rights,  if  this  noble  prince  had  not 
arisen  from  her  bosom  to  insist  on  them.  He  instructed 
his  envoys  very  determinedly,  and  in  it  he  was  supported 
by  the  envoys  of  Holland  and  Hesse-Cassel,  and  also  by 
Sweden,  which  claimed  tliat  the  condition  of  Germany 
should  be  the  same  at  the  close  of  the  war  as  before  its 
beginning.  He  sent  this  instruction  to  his  ambassador, 
February  22,  1648,  that  he  was  not  disposed  to  have  the 
name  among  his  large  Lutheran  population  of  peddling 
the  Reformed  religion  as  if  it  were  a  new  faith,  so  that  he 


124  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

would  have  to  beg  for  it  an  existence,  because  it  was  not 
recognized  by  law.  It  was  suggested  that  a  special  clause 
be  put  into  the  treaty,  having  reference  to  the  Reformed. 
This  he  opposed,  for  he  demanded  that  they  must  be  men- 
tioned on  an  equality  with  the  Lutherans  and  Catholics. 
They  were  to  be  mentioned  wherever  their  rights  were 
touched,  and  mentioned  not  as  Evangelicals,  but  as  Re- 
formed. One  of  his  nobles  openly  declared  that  he  would 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  affairs  of  the  Protestant  cause 
there,  if  this  were  not  granted.  All  this  produced  a  great 
impression  on  the  deliberations  of  the  Peace.  And  the 
fear  of  friction  from  this  cause  finally  led  all,  who  were  so 
weary  of  the  war,  to  make  concessions,  so  as  to  get  a  treaty 
formulated.  So  finally  the  seventh  article  of  the  Peace 
gives  to  the  Reformed  the  same  rights  as  to  the  Lutherans. 
Saxony  protested  against  this,  but  it  was  ineffectual,  as 
was  the  effort  made  by  the  citizens  of  Dantzic  in  appealing 
to  the  Swedish  Queen  against  it.  To  them  Count  Brahe 
replied  :  "  Those  who  had  part  in  the  war  must  have  part 
in  the  peace.''  It  has  been  said  by  those  favorable  to  the 
Union  of  the  Churches  in  Germany,  that  the  Reformed 
were  recognized  in  this  Peace,  not  as  Reformed,  but  as 
adherents  of  the  Augsburg  Confession.  "  This,''  says  Eb- 
rard,  "  is  not  true.  In  the  later  recensions  of  the  Peace,  the 
phrase,  '  adherents  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,'  appears 
thirteen  times,  while  the  name  Reformed  appears  thirty- 
five  times,  and    Evangelical    (including   both    Churches) 


ELECTRESS    JULIAXE.  125 

seventy  times/^  In  the  seventh  article  the  phrase  is, 
^'  They  who  are  called  Reformed."  The  Reformed  were 
therefore  recognized  by  German  law  and  given  their  rights. 
For  this,  great  honor  is  due  to  the  great  Elector,  although 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  this  was  the  issue,  for  which 
the  Landgravine  Amalie  of  Hesse-Cassel  was  fighting  all 
along.  What  Hesse-Cassel  gained  by  war,  the  Elector 
gained  by  diplomacy.  These  two  together  kept  up  the 
agitation,  until  the  times  were  ripe  to  embody  it  in  the 
treaty,  and  until  it  was  evident  that  no  peace  could  ])e  had 
without  recognizing  so  large  and  influential  a  Church  as 
the  Reformed. 

We  cannot  close  this  sketch  of  Brandenburg  without  a 
reference  to  the  Electress  Juliane  of  the  Palatinate,  the 
mother  of  Frederick  Y.  She  was  a  dauo;hter  of  Prince 
William  of  Orange,  and  inherited  much  of  his  ability  as  a 
statesman.  When  Frederick  was  elected  to  the  throne  of 
Bohemia,  she,  with  a  statesman's  eyes,  saw  the  danger 
before  him.  She  therefore  opposed  his  acceptance.  This 
led  to  her  retirement  from  that  court,  and  a  coolness  sprang 
up  between  the  Electress  Elizabeth,  who  wanted  Frederick 
to  accept,  and  herself.  Her  fears  came  only  too  true. 
Frederick  was  defeated  and  the  Spaniards  came  into  the 
Palatinate.  Before  them  she  was  compelled  to  flee,  and 
she  went  to  Brandenburg,  where  the  Elector  George 
William,  who  was  married  to  her  daughter,  gave  her  an 
asylum  at  Koenigsberg.  Here,  at  the  northeast  corner  of 
Germany,  far  removed  from  the  war  as  it  was  possible  in 


126  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

that  land,  she  quietly  spent  the  years  of  the  war,  viewing 
its  horrors  from  a  distance.  She,  however,  greatly  aided 
in  the  formation  of  a  Reformed  church  in  that  Lutheran 
city  of  Koenigsberg,  for  she  had  Reformed  service  at  the 
castle  for  her  court,  a  large  number  of  whom  had  come  with 
her  from  the  Palatinate  and  Avere  Reformed.  She  showed 
the  nobleness  of  her  disposition,  for  when  her  daughter- 
in-law  was  fleeing  from  Bohemia,  she  forgot  her  previous 
differences  with  her,  and  most  kindly  endeavored  to  aid 
her  in  her  distress.  The  babe  which  Electress  Elizabeth 
bore  at  Custrin,  Jujiane  had  brought  to  Koenigsberg, 
where  she  reared  him.  Says  Benger,  the  biographer  of 
Elizabeth,  ^'  It  was  a  trait  of  generosity  that  Jaliane  never 
became  estranged  from  Elizabeth,  however  opposed  they 
may  have  been  in  opinions.  There  was  in  each  of  these 
Princesses  no  common  share  of  firmness  and  dignity,  and 
if  the  younger  might  be  personified  Hope,  the  older  was 
no  less  characterized  by  Resignation."  When  her  son  Fred- 
erick died,  she  beautifully  comforted  Elizabeth,  although 
she  herself  was  deeply  moved.  She  died  just  before  the 
close  of  the  war,  in  1644,  sending  her  salutation  to  Eliza- 
beth, "  Give  my  farcAvell  to  the  Queen  of  Bohemia.  Tell 
her  that  in  my  last  moments  I  give  her  my  solemn  bene- 
diction.'^ She  then  freely  conversed  with  her  Reformed 
pastor  about  her  Christian  faith  and  declared  her  eagerness 
for  heaven.  "  She  combined  the  sagacity  of  a  stateswoman 
with  the  sympathies  of  a  woman  and  the  magnanimity  of 
a  heroine.'' 


CHAPTER  VI. 
SUMMARY  AND  RESULTS  OF  THE  WAR. 

At  last  peace  came  like  an  angel  song  from  heaven  to 
a  generation,  many  of  whom  had  grown  up  during  the 
war  and  who  had  never  before  known  what  the  blessings 
of  peace  were.  The  bells  were  rung,  Te  Deums  were  sung, 
Thanksgiving  sermons  were  preached.  The  people  went 
wild  with  the  thought  that  the  bitter  and  seemingly  end- 
less war  was  now  at  last  over.  And  as  the  blessings  of 
peace  began  to  dawn  upon  them,  they  almost  felt  as  if 
heaven  had  come  down  to  earth  after  the  pandemonium  of 
such  a  war.  What  then  was  the  effect  of  the  war  on  the 
Reformed  Church?  It  may  be  said  to  have  been  both 
disastrous  and  beneficial. 

The  war  was  a  fearfully  disastrous  one  to  Germany, 
It  is  said  that  two-thirds  of  the  population  perished  in 
the  war.  Her  population  fell  from  seventeen  millions  to 
four  millions.  "  Germany  was  a  great  grave,  a  grave  of 
good  manners  and  morality,  of  justice  and  religion,  science 
and  art.^'  But  of  all  the  lands  in  Germany,  the  Reformed 
districts  suffered  most.  Hesse-Cassel  lost  one-fourth  of 
her  population.  The  Palatinate  suffered  the  worst.  Only 
one-fiftieth  of  the  population   is  said  to  have  remained. 


128  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

The  number  of  the  Reformed  was,  therefore,  at  the  end 
of  the  war  very  much  less  than  at  its  beginning.  And 
she  lost  not  merely  in  population,  but  also  in  the  number  of 
her  princes.  Elector  Frederick  of  the  Palatinate  was 
deposed,  then  Duke  John  Albert  of  Mecklenburg,  then 
Landgrave  William  of  Hesse-Cassel,  beside  some  lesser 
princes,  as  the  Count  of  Solms  Braunfels.  Of  course 
these  princes  were  reinstated  by  the  close  of  the  war, 
except  the  Duke  of  Mecklenburg,  who  had  a  Lutheran 
successor.  But  these  Reformed  princes  lost  prestige  and 
influence,  which  it  took  years  to  regain.  The  Reformed 
Church  also  suffered  at  her  centres,  the  universities.  A 
peculiar  fatality  struck  her  seats  of  learning.  They 
seemed  to  be  the  targets  of  the  war.  One  after  another 
»they  were  lost  or  crippled.  The  Romish  powers  seemed 
determined  to  cripple  Calvinism.  Heidelberg  was  taken 
three  times.  Marburg  was  captured  four  times.  Her- 
born  suffered  worse  than  sieges,  as  the  enemy  quartered 
their  troops  year  after  year  near  there.  She  was  plun- 
dered and  burnt  three  or  four  times,  as  well  as  repeatedly 
pillaged.  Frankford  on  the  Oder  did  not  escape.  She 
w^as  captured  four  times.  As  these  centres  of  learning 
were  lost  or  weakened,  of  course  the  Reformed  Church 
was  weakened,  for  to  them  she  looked  for  her  supply  of 
ministers. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  losses  she  found  that  even 
those  who  she  supposed  were  her  friends,   turned  out  to 


GUSTAVUS'   TREATMENT   OF   THE    REFORMED.        129 

be  indifferent  or  hostile.  This  was  true  especially  of  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus.  His  treatment  of  the  Reformed  has 
been  a  painful  surprise.  One  would  have  supposed  that 
as  they  were  his  allies,  he  would  have  treated  them  with 
great  favor.  But  certain  facts  point  the  other  way.  His 
treatment  of  the  Reformed  King  Frederick  of  the  Palati- 
nate shows  this.  He  seems  to  have  been  very  careful  not 
to  enlarge  the  Reformed  Church,  but  rather  to  hinder  her, 
especially  where  the  Lutherans  could  gain  an  advantage. 
He  showed  this  policy  on  different  occasions.  First  he  plun- 
dered Frankford  on  the  Oder,*  the  very  first  Reformed  cen- 
tre he  touched,  and  said  that  God  punished  them  for  their 
stiffneckedness  in  upholding  false  doctrines.  This  act 
made  the  Reformed  lose  hope  in  him.  Professor  Pelar- 
gus,  as  he  told  the  story  of  his  sufferings  during  the 
plundering  at  Frankford  to  the  Reformed  of  Bremen, 
made  them  feel  that  Gustavus  was  as  great  an  enemy  to 
the  Reformed,  as  the  Emperor  had  been.  Gustavus 
showed  his  feeling  toward  the  Reformed  very  clearly  at 
Frankford  on  the  Main.  When  the  Reformed  consrre- 
gation,  which  had  been  compelled  by  the  Lutherans  to 
build  their  church  outside  of  the  city  walls,  came  to  him 
and  asked  to  be  allowed  to  use  a  church  in  the  city,  he 
replied,  '^  that  he  would  rather  have  all  his  soldiers' 
spears  and  swords  stuck  into  their  hearts,  than  in  any 
way  to  help  the  Calvinistic  religion  to  grow  through  his 
victorious  arms."     His  policy  was   to   make  use  of  the 

*  Hering,  History  of  Union  Efforts,  Vol.  I.,  page  330,  note. 


130  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

It 

Eeformed,  but  not  to  aid  them.  The  Swedes^  both  before 
and  after  the  death  of  Gustavus,  tried  to  aid  the  Luther- 
ans at  the  expense  of  the  Reformed.  Thus  they  greatly 
strengthened  Lutheranism  in  the  Palatinate.  Wherever 
a  town  had  a  Swedish  garrison^  there  they  would  place  a 
Lutheran  minister,  who  would  gather  the  nucleus  of  a 
Lutheran  congregation.  The  law  declared,  that  where 
the  Lutherans  had  the  majority,  there  they  should  get  the 
church  building.  This  law  was  interpreted  very  liberally 
by  the  Swedes  to  favor  the  Lutherans,  as  at  Oppenheim, 
Mosbach  and  Kreuznach,  where  the  Reformed  were  in 
the  majority.  Indeed  many  of  the  Lutheran  churches  in 
the  Palatinate  owed  their  origin  to  the  Swedes.  Thus 
the  Reformed  were  without  a  friend  anywhere,  the  one 
solitary  exception  to  this  being  Holland,  when  she  cap- 
tured Wesel.  Even  the  Swedes  took  advantage  of  them. 
The  Reformed  Church  lost  much — population,  rulers,  land, 
ministers,  church  property  and  thousands  of  church  mem- 
bers killed  in  battle  or  dead  through  the  woes  of  the  war. 
Her  sufferings  were  beyond  description,  as  her  losses  Avere 
beyond  computation. 

And  yet,  fearful  as  were  her  losses,  the  gain  was 
commensurate  with  the  loss..  Great  principles  are 
worthy  of  great  sacrifices.  Sometimes  it  costs  a  war,  with 
the  loss  of  many  lives  and  much  money,  in  order  to 
establish  a  great  moral  principle,  yet  the  value  of  the 
principle  outweighs  the  loss  in  every  way.  This  was 
true  of  the  Thirty   Years'  War.     Few   wars   had   such 


THE   GAINS   TO   THE   REFORMED.  131 

important  principles  at  stake.     The  principle  of  religious 

liberty  established  by  the  war  was  alone  worth  all  the 

war   cost,    and   much   more.     And   the   Keformed   were 

amply  repaid  for  tlieir  losses   by  gaining  the  recognition 

of  their  Reformed  faith  as  a  legal  religion.     Whereas  she 

had  existed  before  by  sufferance,  now  she  existed  by  law 

with  equal  rights  with  the  other  faiths,  and  mentioned  by 

name  in  the  treaty.     Henceforth   the  Reformed  religion 

was  one  of  the  established   religions  of  Germany.     The 

right  of  using  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  was   granted  to 

the  Palatinate,  and  it  came  into   common  use  in  Hesse- 

Cassel.     These  grand  results  were  worth  the  great  sacrifices 

the  Reformed   had    made.     The    Reformed  Church  had 

lost  much,  she   now    gained    much.     She   gained  rights, 

which  would  never  be  taken  away  from  her.     And,  as  a 

result  of  these  new  privileges,  she  took  a  new  start  after 

the  war,  and  for  half  a  century  prospered  very  greatly. 

We  will  get  a  better  idea  of  her  condition  at  the  close 

of  the  war,  by  taking    up    the   various   Reformed  lands 

separately. 

The  Palatinate. 

Elector  Charles  Lewis  came  back  to  his  land  in  1649. 
He  had  left  it  a  boy  and  came  back  to  it  a  middle-aged 
man.*     He  came  to  the  Palatinate  from  England,  by  way 

*  By  a  curious  coincidence  his  uncle,  King  Charles  I.  of  England,  lost  his 
crown  just  as  Charles  Lewis  ascended  his  throne.  Was  this  a  revenge  of  his- 
tory as  well  as  a  coincidence,  because  his  father.  King  James  I.  of  England, 
had  so  meanly  refused  to  support  his  son-in-law,  Frederick  of  the  Palatinate? 
And  now  James'  son  loses  his  throne  when  Frederick's  son  gets  his  Electorate. 


132  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

of  Hesse-Cassel.  He  wanted  to  visit  the  Landgravine 
Amalie,  who  had  so  nobly  supported  his  rights,  and  he 
chose  her  daughter  as  his  wife.  He  entered  Heidelberg, 
October  7,  1649.  But  how  different  it  was  from  the  land 
he  had  left.  The  paradise  had  become  a  desert.  The 
streets  were  covered  with  weeds,  the  fields  with  thorns. 
A  few  huts  stood  where  once  was  the  dwelling  place  of  the 
rich.  His  beautiful  capital  was  in  ruins.  His  palace  with 
its  splendid  gardens,  statues  and  water  works  that  had 
rivalled  Versailles,  and  had  been  the  wonder  of  Europe, 
Avas  in  such  a  sad  condition  that  he  could  not  find  a  suitable 
place  in  it  to  live.  He  at  once  took  measures  to  restore 
his  land  to  prosperity,  and  was  called  the  Kestorer  of  the 
Palatinate,  for  which  his  economy  and  shrewdness  aided 
him.  He  offered  freedom  from  taxes  for  20  years  to  those 
who  would  repair  their  property.  He  invited  those  who 
had  emigrated  to  return.  He  also  secured  colonists 
from  Holland,  Switzerland,  France  and  England.  As  a 
result  his  fertile  land  began  to  bloom  again,  so  that  Mar- 
shal Grammont,  who  had  marched  over  it  in  1646,  when 
he  again  visited  it  twelve  years  after,  was  astonished  at 
its  progress  and  prosperity.  The  Church  also  began  to 
flourish  again  like  the  land.  Like  Elector  Frederick  III., 
this  Elector  took  the  position  that  he  was  the  spiritual 
father  of  his  people,  and  he  must  see  that  their  religious 
wants  were  supplied.  AYhile  in  England  he  had  become 
opposed  to  the  high  church  pomp  of  the  Anglican  Church. 


RE-ESTABLISHMENT   OF   THE    REFORMED.  133 

Indeed,  as  Benger  says,  "  be  had  actually  assumed  his  place 
in  the  convocation  of  divines  sitting  at  Westminster,  so  as 
to  recommend  himself  to  the  Puritans.  But  he  was 
inclined  to  emphasize  the  practical  aspects  of  religion 
rather  than  the  doctrinal.  Of  the  347  ministers  in  the 
Palatinate  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  only  one-tenth 
remained,  and  these  mainly  in  towns  garrisoned  by  the 
Swedes.  Fifty-four  others  were  still  alive  in  foreijrn  coun- 
tries,  and  of  them  the  greater  part  returned.  The  Reformed 
consistory  was  re-established  in  1649,  and  the  old  Palat- 
inate Church  Order  was  re-published,  an  old  copy  of  it 
having  been  found  in  the  archives  at  Frankenthal.  But 
owing  to  the  poverty  of  the  court  and  of  the  people,  many 
of  the  parishes  could  not  be  supplied  with  pastors.  Col- 
lections were  taken  up  in  foreign  lands  for  the  poor  Pala- 
tines. Thus  the  Canton  of  Berne  gave  six  hundred  ducats 
in  1651.  The  Reformed  university  was  re-opened  Novem- 
ber 1,  1652,  with  splendid  services,  but  so  great  was  the 
poverty  of  the  government,  that  at  first  only  one  professor 
of  theology  was  appointed,  Tossanus.  Afterward  Hot- 
tinger  of  Zurich,  and  Spanheim  from  Holland,  came  as 
professors  of  theology.  The  former  brought  with  him 
twenty  Swiss  students,  so  great  was  his  popularity  at 
home.  The  university  soon  flourished,  and  numbered  one 
hundred  and  nineteen  students.  Fabricius  was  appointed 
professor  of  theology  in  1660,  and  became  the  great  leader 
of  the  Reformed  of  the  Palatinate  during  the  rest  of  the 


134  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

centuiy.  The  Elector  in  his  zeal  to  elevate  the  university 
even  went  so  far  as  to  invite  the  Dutch  Pantheist,  Spinoza, 
to  become  a  professor  in  it.  But  Fabricius  contrived  that 
in  the  invitation  sent  to  Spinoza,  there  should  be  a  clause 
stating  that  while  the  greatest  freedom  of  inquiry  would 
be  allowed  to  him,  yet  nothing  that  would  unsettle  Chris- 
tianity, would  be  permitted.  Spinoza  perhaps  took  the 
hint,  and  did  not  accept  the  invitation  of  the  Elector. 
The  visitation  of  the  churches,  an  old  Reformed  custom, 
was  revived  in  1658  and  district  synods  or  classes  were 
organized.  Thus  the  Reformed  Church  was  again  thor- 
oughly organized,  and  began  to  flourish  as  before  the  war. 

Nassau. 

The  most  important  event  for  the  district  of  the  Wet- 
terau  was  the  elevation  of  Herborn  to  the  rank  of  a  univer- 
sity. Before  she  had  been  merely  a  high  school,  with 
powers  granted  by  the  Count  of  Dillenburg,  but  she  had 
not  received  privileges  from  the  Emperor.  Although  she 
had  been  in  existence  for  sixty-eight  years,  yet  she  was 
only  a  high  school.  Now,  however,  through  the  media- 
tion of  Melander  and  of  Count  John  Maurice  of  Nassau 
Siegen,  the  Emperor,  in  return  for  the  great  sacrifices 
Nassau  had  made  during  the  war,  elevated  her  to  a  uni- 
versity in  1652.  But  there  were  a  number  of  expenses 
incidental  to  this.  The  diploma  cost  4,100  gulden.  This, 
unfortunately,  the  Nassau  counties   were  unable  to  raise, 


THE   UNIVERSITY    OF   HERBORN.  135 

nor  were  they  able  to  pay  the  cost  of  the  seal  or  the  salary 
of  the  chancellor  or  secretary.  With  a  great  deal  of  diffi- 
culty half  of  the  cost  of  the  diploma  was  raised,  and  here 
the  matter  was  rested  for  fifty  years.  The  Emperor 
granted  the  diploma,  but  as  they  had  not  paid  for  it,  it 
Avas  placed  in  the  archives  of  Mayence.  In  1615  the 
senate  of  the  high  school  asked  the  Evangelical  Princes  of 
of  Nassau  to  redeem  the  diploma,  the  amount  that  remained 
to  be  raised  being  about  1450  gulden.  But  they  were 
not  able  to  raise  it,  nor  was  it  raised  till  1740.  And  when 
it  was  raised,  by  a  curious  perversity  of  fortune  the 
diploma,  which  had  been  granted  so  long  before,  could 
not  be  found.  And  yet  this  high  school,  though  not  a 
university,  did  the  work  of  a  university,  and  was  a  centre 
of  influence  for  the  Reformed  Church. 

Brandenburg. 

The  most  important  event  for  this  electorate  was 
the  founding  of  the  Reformed  University  of  Duisburg  in 
the  northern  Rhine.  This  war  finally  settled  the  contro- 
versy between  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  and  the  Duke 
of  Pfalz  Neuburg  for  the  districts  of  Julich,  Cleve,  Berg 
and  Mark.  Brandenburg  received  Cleve  and  Mark,  and 
Pfalz  Neuburg,  Berg  and  Julich.  The  Elector  of  Branden- 
burg then  determined  to  carry  out  a  plan  of  the  former 
Duke,  namely,  of  founding  a  university.  He  was  anxious 
to  do  this  so  as  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  many  Reformed 


136     THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

in  his  Rhenish  provinces  (there  were  90,000  in  1670),  and 
also  that  it  might  be  a  connter-poise  to  arrest  the  influence 
of  the  Romish  University  at  Cologne.  As  the  Duke  of 
Julich,  Cleve,  Berg  and  Mark  had  gained  the  imperial 
privileges  for  his  university  as  early  as  1566,  it  was  com- 
paratively easy  to  carry  out  this  plan.  The  university 
was  opened  October  4,  1656,  in  the  presence  of  Count 
John  Maurice  of  Nassau  Siegen  and  other  nobles.  The 
church  of  the  Catharine  cloister  was  given  to  them  for 
recitation  purposes.  This  university  very  soon  revealed  a 
free  and  progressive  spirit.  Thus  it  began  the  use  of  Ger- 
man in  its  class  rooms  instead  of  the  Latin.  From  the 
beginning  it  welcomed  the  Cartesian  philosophers,  even 
when  driven  out  of  other  universities,  as  Herborn.  Its 
first  rector  was  John  Clauberg,  a  Cartesian  and  a  Cocceian. 
Still  the  university  was  not  very  large — 92  in  1655,  61  in 
1701.  It  was  too  near  the  Dutch  universities,  who  drew 
away  the  students  from  the  Northern  Rhine.  This  uni- 
versity continued  in  existence  until  the  beginning  of  this 
century,  when  it  was  closed  to  be  re-opened  afterward  at 
Bonn.  The  Elector  also  founded  a  gymnasium  at  Hamm, 
the  capital  of  the  province  of  Mark,  which  for  a  while  so 
greatly  prospered  that  it  rivalled  Duisburg  in  the  number 
of  its  students.  But  then  it  went  down,  until  the  Seventy 
Years'  War  closed  it. 

The  other  UDiversity  of  Brandenburg,  Frankford  on 
the  Oder,  which  had  lost  most  of  its  professors  and  endow- 


THE    HESSIAN   CHURCH    ORDER.  137 

ments  by  the  war,  again  began  to  prosper  as  the  Elector 
increased  its  priveleges  and  income.  Only  one  professor 
remained,  Franke,  but  the  Elector  appointed  Reichel,  and 
after  his  death  in  1653,  Bekmann  and  George  Bergius,  a 
son  of  John  Bergius,  who  had  been  a  professor  there 
before.  But  the  university  never  became  large,  as  there 
were  few  Reformed  in  Eastern  Germany.  It,  however, 
greatly  helped  the  Reformed  Church  in  Eastern  Europe 
by  training  many  students  for  the  neighboring  Reformed 
Churches  in  Poland,  Bohemia  and  Hungary. 


Here  the  Reformed  Church  was  also  more  thoroughly 
organized.  The  university  of  Marburg  was  revived  in 
1653,  with  John  Crocius  as  rector.*  Landgrave  William 
VI.  thoroughly  re-organized  the  Reformed  Church  gov- 
ernment. In  doing  this,  however,  he  showed  his  union- 
istic  tendencies.  His  Church  Order  departed  from  the 
simple  Reformed  cultus.  He  appointed  a  commission, 
April  28,  1655,  of  whom  Superintendents  Hutterodt  and 
Neuberger  and  Professor  Crocius  were  members.  They 
found  themselves  unable  to  produce  a  Church  Order 
based  on  the  former  one  of  1574,  and  yet  suitable  to  the 
unionistic   tendencies   of  the  Landgrave,  so   they   intro- 

■^'-  The  only  Reformed  church  at  Marburg  had  been  the  garrison  church, 
but  now  the  Landgrave  gave  the  Dominican  cloister  to  them  as  a  university 
church.  The  famous  church  of  St.  Elizabeth  at  Marburg  was  also  used  some- 
times by  the  Reformed,  the  iUustrous  Professor  Kirchmeyer,  surnamed  the 
Greater,  preaching  there. 

10 


138  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

duced  a  thoroughly  Reformed  Church  Order.  But  this 
did  not  suit  the  Landgrave.  He  appointed  another  com- 
mission, and  called  a  General  Synod,  May  13,  1656,  to 
adopt  their  Church  Order.  But  the  General  Synod,  to 
the  vexation  of  the  Landgrave,  approved  the  work  of  the 
first  commission  in  its  Reformed  position.  The  Land- 
grave was  of  course  again  annoyed  by  this  decision.  He 
then  appointed  a  ncAV  commission,  consisting  mainly  of 
laymen,  although  Hudderodt  and  Crocius  were  on  it. 
Their  Church  Order  was  hurriedly  and  secretly  printed. 
When  the  first  part  of  it  appeared,  the  Reformed  minis- 
terium  of  Cassel,  on  January  19,  1659,  made  a  vigorous 
protest  against  it,  declaring  that  it  would  Lutheranize  the 
Reformed  Church.  But  the  Landgrave  made  it  a  law,  in 
spite  of  these  protests,  July  12,  1657.  This  liturgy  dif- 
fers in  a  number  of  respects  from  the  Palatinate  liturgy, 
which  was  in  common  use  among  the  Reformed.  It 
introduced  the  pericopes  or  Scripture  lessons,  which  were 
never  approved  by  any  purely  Reformed  Church  Order, 
and  are  not  found  in  any  other  Reformed  Church  Order. 
Both  Goebel*  and  Cunof  call  the  Landgrave  a  Lutheran- 
izer,  and  the  Church  Order  not  properly  Reformed. 
And  yet  this  Church  Order  has  been  quoted  by  high 
churchmen  in  the  Reformed  Church  as  a  really  Reformed 
liturgy.     It,   however,   ordered  the   introduction   of  the 

*  History  of  the  Rhenish  Westphalian  Church,  Vol.  II.,  page  516. 
I  Reformed  Princes,  pages  52  and  53. 


DOCTRINAL    POSITIOX    OF    THE    REFORMED.  139 

Heidelberg  Catecliism  into  the  upper  classes  of  the 
schools,  and  thus  gave  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  confes- 
sional authority.  This  fixed  the  doctrinal  position  of  tlie 
Hessian  Church  as  Reformed,  while  the  liturgy  inclined 
to  make  it  unionistic.  This  was  the  first  official  recogni- 
tion of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  which  had  been  grad- 
ually introduced  into  Lower  Hesse.  This  Church  Order 
settled  the  condition  of  Hesse-Cassel  for  a  century.  It  is 
still  in  use  in  Hesse-Cassel. 

The  Doctrinal  Position  of  the  Reformed  Church. 

This  may  be  stated  in  a  word  by  saying  that  while  the 
Princes  were  inclined  toward  union  with  the  Lutherans, 
the  theologians  still  clung  to  their  Calvinistic  faith.  Of 
the  Princes,  the  Elector  of  the  Palatinate  was  strongly 
inclined  to  union.  He  was  very  liberal  in  his  views  of 
religious  liberty,  even  giving  a  home  in  his  land  to  Sab- 
batarians (who  observe  the  seventh  day  instead  of  the  first 
as  Sunday).  He  built  the  Concordia  church  at  Manheim, 
in  which  Lutherans,  Reformed  and  Romanists  could  wor- 
ship together.  He  looked  with  hope  on  the  Saumur 
school  of  Calvinism,  that  it  would  be  the  bond  to  join 
Lutherans  and  Reformed  together.  He  had  his  theo- 
logians have  two  conferences  with  the  Lutherans  at 
Deinach,  in  1656,  between  the  Reformed  Professor  Hot- 
tinger  and  the  Lutheran,  AVeller  ;  the  other  at  Frankford 
in  1658,  between  Hottinger  and  Gerlach.     He  attempted 


140  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

to  get  an  understanding  between  the  Reformed  and  the 
Lutherans  on  the  basis  of  the  Wittenberg  Concord.  In 
all  this  the  wife  of  Duke  George  of  Montbeliard,  a 
descendant  of  Coligny,  supported  him  in  trying  to  bring 
about  a  peace  between  the  Lutheran  Church  of  AYurtem- 
berg  and  the  Reformed  Church  of  the  Palatinate. 

The  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel,  we  have  seen,  was 
favorable  to  union  between  the  Reformed  and  the  Luth- 
erans. He  and  his  court  were  doubtless  influenced  toward 
this  by  John  Durv,  the  peacemaker  of  that  age,  who  for 
many  years  found  a  home  at  Cassel,  at  the  expense  of  the 
Landgravine.  But  while  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel 
was  favorable  to  union,  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  held 
firmly  to  the  Reformed  faith,  although  he  believed  in 
mutual  toleration.  This  is  proved  by  his  treatment  of  the 
case  of  Paul  Gerhardt.  This  tendency  toward  union  at 
times  was  also  shown  by  the  fact  that  three  conferences 
were  held  on  union,  at  Leipsic  in  1631,  at  Cassel  in  1661, 
and  at  Berlin  in  1662.  These  conferences  revealed  the  desire 
for  union.  But  it  was  found  when  the  theologians  came 
together,  that  the  times  were  not  yet  ripe  for  church 
union. 

On  the  other  hand,  while  many   of  the  Princes  were 

inclined  toward  union  with  the  Lutherans,  the  Reformed 

ministers  still  held  to  their  Calvinistic  position,  and  were 

.  not  inclined  to  give  it  up.     Their  very  persecutions  made 

them  love  the  old  faith  the  more.     The  influence  of  the 


THE   REFORMED    WERE    CALYIXISTIC.  141 

Synod  of  Dort  was  felt  in  Germany,  although  its  canons 
were  not  officially  adopted  by  the  German  churches. 
Higher  Calvinism  spread  into  those  parts  of  Germany 
which  had  been  inclined  to  low  Calvinism,  as  Branden- 
burg and  Bremen,  and  Hesse-Cassel.  Let  us  look  at  the 
representative  men  of  the  Reformed  Church.  The  most 
prominent  Reformed  theologians  of  that  period  reveal  the 
position  of  the  Church.  Henry  Alting,  professor  at 
Heidelberg  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  was  a  strong  Cal- 
vinist.  He  was  driven  out  by  the  war  and  became  pro- 
fessor in  Holland.  Scultetus,  also  professor  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war,  was  a  high  Calvinist.  One  of  the  strong- 
est thinkers  of  the  Reformed  church  was  Wendelin.  He 
was  born  in  the  Palatinate  and  studied  at  Heidelberg. 
The  days  of  his  course  in  that  university  lay  in  the 
troublous  time  of  Prince  Casimir,  when  he  was  trying  to 
re-introduce  the  Reformed  faith  into  the  Palatinate,  after 
Elector  Lewis  had  driven  it  out.  In  the  midst  of  the 
theological  controversies  of  that  day  he  formed  his  doctrinal 
belief,  and  thus  became  a  strong  infralapsarian.  He 
became  professor  at  Zerbst  in  1611,  where  he  taught  for 
forty-one  years,  until  his  death  in  1652.  Both  of  his 
works  on  theology  reveal  his  strong  Calvinistic  position, 
as  well  as  his  scholastic  method  of  arrangement,  though  he 
reveals  great  keenness  of  analysis,  even  inclined  to  dialec- 
tics. Rev.  Prof.  Krauth,  the  Lutheran  professor  of  Phila- 
delphia, although  a  strong  Lutheran,  looked  on  Wendelin 
as  one  of  the  most  acute  of  the  Reformed  theologians. 


142  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

Another  very  prominent  Reformed  theologian  of  that 
day  was  John  Crocius.  He  was  born  at  Wittgenstein, 
July  28,  1590.  His  father,  Paul  Crocius,  was  the  author 
of  the  Book  of  the  Martyrs,  which  exerted  as  great  an 
influence  among  the  Germans  as  Fox's  Book  of  Martyrs 
did  among  the  English  speaking  people.  John  was  a  pre- 
cocious youth.  At  the  early  age  of  twenty-three  he  was 
made  court  preacher  of  Landgrave  Maurice,  and  at  twenty- 
four  doctor  of  theology.  At  twenty-four  he  was  loaned 
by  his  master  to  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  to  take  the 
place  of  Scultetus  in  introducing  the  Reformed  faith  into 
Brandenburg.,  The  Elector  w^anted  to  try  and  retain  him, 
and  make  him  professor  of  theology  at  his  university  at 
Frankford  on  the  Oder.  But  Landgrave  Maurice  refused 
to  give  him  up,  and  after  he  had  served  the  Elector  for  two 
years,  his  master  recalled  him  and  made  him  professor  of 
theology  at  the  University  of  Marburg,  although  only 
twenty-seven  years  old.  He  died  at  Marburg,  July  1, 
1659.  That  Crocius  is  Calvinistic  is  abundantly  shown 
by  Clans,  his  biographer,  and  by  Munscher  in  his  history 
of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Hesse.* 

"•■•  Claus  shows  that  the  Calvinistic  position  of  Crocius  is  proved  by  the  posi- 
tion of  the  Reformed  at  the  conference  at  Leipsic,  where  the  Reformed  held  to 
particular  election,  instead  of  universal  atonement,  even  though  Bergius,  the 
other  Reformed  theologian  there,  had  taught  the  latter  doctrine  for  many 
years.  Claus  says  (Life  of  Crocius,  page  81),  "The  great  head  of  his  system, 
as  of  Calvin's,  was  the  glory  of  God.  He  places  first  the  doctrine  of  creation,, 
then  of  the  fall,  then  redemption.  He  held  that  God  called  a  certain  number,^ 
which  is  neither  larger  nor  smaller." 


THE   REFOEMED   POSITION.  143 

This  Calvinistic  position  of  the  Reformed  was  revealed 
at  the  conferences  at  Leipsic,  Cassel  and  Berlin,  where  the 
Reformed  held  that  predestination  was  a  fundamental  part 
of  their  system  of  doctrine.  Heppe  says  of  the  Cassel 
Conference,*  ^^  That  this  conference  shows  that  the  German 
peculiarity  of  the  Hessian  theology  was  now  absorbed  by 
predestinarian  Calvinism." 

*  Herzog  Encyclopaedia,  Vol.  Ill,  page  155. 


BOOK    II. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  FRENCH  REFUGEES. 

The  Reformed  Church  of  Germany  received  an  impor- 
tant addition,  when  sixty  thousand  refugees  from  France 
emigrated  to  Germany  after  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes,  in  1685.     They  were  important,  not  only  for 
their  number,  but  also  for  their  influence.     Many  of  them 
were  nobles,  most  of  them  were  artizans,  or   manufactu- 
rers.    Their   descendents   now    number  over   a   million. 
Their   coming    strengthened    the   Reformed    Church    in 
various  ways.     It  gave  her  some  of  their  most  prominent 
men  on  the  continent,  as   ministers,  generals  and   states- 
men.    It  strengthened  the    Reformed,  where  they  were 
Aveak  in  numbers,  as  in  Brandenburg.     And  it  strength- 
ened their  Calvinism,  where  it  was  inclined  to  be  affected 
by  the  prevailing  Lutheranism  around  it.     The  French 
churches  have  always  been  an  important  element  in  the 
Reformed    Church  of  Germany,   and,  therefore,   deserve 
special  mention.      Before,  however,    we   speak    of  their 
immigration  into  Germany,  it  is  proper  that  we   should 
speak  of  him  who  was  the  master  mind  in  their  reception, 


FREDERICK  WILLIAM,  THE  GREAT  ELECTOR  OF  BRANDENBURG. 


THE   GREAT   ELECTOR.  145 

Elector  Frederick  William  of  Brandenburg.  He  espe- 
cially deserves  mention,  because  he  appears  in  European 
history  as  the  great  protector  of  the  Reformed.  And  with 
him  we  cannot  help  mentioning  his  first  wife,  the  Electress 
Louisa  Henrietta. 

SECTION  I. 

FREDERICK  WILLIAM,  THE  GREAT  ELECTOR. 

Frederick  William  deserves  to  be  called  the  Great 
Elector,  for  he  had  many  characteristics  of  greatness.  He 
was  great  as  a  general,  for  he  held  his  ground  against 
Russia,  Austria,  France  and  the  German  realm.  He 
w^as  great  as  a  statesman,  for  by  his  wisdom  he  had 
increased  his  territories  from  1,300  square  miles  with 
800,000  population  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  to  1,932 
square  miles,  with  a  population  at  his  death  of  1,500,000. 
He  was  also  great  as  a  builder.  He  built  new  parts  of 
Berlin,  as  the  Dorothean  and  Werder  districts,  so  that  the 
city  from  6,000  in  1640,  became  17,000  in  1685.  He 
was  great  in  his  pity,  for  he  was  the  defender  of  the 
oppressed  of  every  land,  but  especially  of  the.  Reformed. 
And  he  capped  all  his  greatness  by  his  piety.  His  motto 
was  :  ^'  Lord,  cause  me  to  know  the  way  I  should  go." 
He  was,  therefore,  great  in  every  respect.  Indeed,  one 
euloo^ist  considers  him  orreater  even  than  Frederick  the 
Great.  For  the  latter  found  everything  prepared  for  him 
by  an  economical  father,  so  that  he  could  become  great ; 


146  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

but  Frederick  William  found  everything  against  him  at 
the  beginning  of  his  reign,  as  the  Thirty  Years'  War  had 
left  the  land  bleeding  at  many  pores.  Yet  he  made 
Brandenburg  a  mighty  military  power,  and  thus  prepared 
the  way  for  his  grandson,  Frederick  the  Great,  to  gain 
his  victories.  The  latter  on  one  occasion,  when  he 
removed  the  cathedral  in  1750,  had  the  coffin  of  the 
Great  Elector,  who  Avas  buried  there,  opened.  And  tak- 
ing the  withered  hand,  he  covered  it  with  kisses,  and  said 
to  those  around  :  ''  Gentlemen,  this  man  did  a  good  work.'' 
He  was  the  only  ancestor  worthy  of  such  a  descendent  as 
Frederick  the  Great.  For  he  it  was  who  raised  up  Bran- 
denburg and  laid  the  foundations,  on  which  Frederick 
the  Great  could  build. 

He  was  born  February  16,  1620.  He  came  very 
nearly  being  educated  by  the  Romish  prime  minister  of 
his  father.  Count  Adam  of  Schwarzenburg.  But  fortun- 
ately his  mother,  a  Princess  of  the  Palatinate  House,  had 
not  forgotten  the  Avoes  of  her  brother  Frederick  from  the 
Romanists,  and  she  prevented  it.  Besides,  the  dangers  of 
the  war  compelled  his  parents  to  send  him  out  of  the 
country  to  Holland  when  14  years  of  age,  where  he  was 
surrounded  by  Reformed  influences.  He  went  to  school 
with  his  unfortunate  cousins,  the  exiled  princes  of  the 
Palatinate,  and  often  visited  his  aunt,  the  Electress  Eliza- 
beth. He  was  there  brought  in  contact  with  the  princes 
of  Orange,  those  magnificent  warriors  and  statesmen,   and 


THE   GREAT   PROTECTOR.  147 

thus  by  study  and  observation  he  was  prepared  to  be  the 
soldier  he  afterwards  became.  He  showed  nobility  of 
character,  for  on  one  occasion,  when  others  were  tempting 
him  into  vile  temptations  there,  he,  like  Joseph  of  old, 
fled  from  them  suddenly  to  the  camp  of  the  prince  of 
Orange,  saying  as  he  left  them,  ''  I  am  debtor  to  my  par- 
ents, my  honor,  my  land.''  He  was  called  to  the  throne 
of  his  land  at  the  early  age  of  21.  He  at  once  grasped 
the  sceptre  with  the  grip  of  a  leader.  We  have  already 
seen  hoAv  his  decision  of  character  gained  for  the  Reformed 
their  rights  at  the  Peace  of  Westphalia.  He  became  their 
great  protector  in  all  lands,  especially  after  the  death  of 
Cromwell,  who  had  claimed  the  title  of ''  protector  of  the 
Reformed."  When  the  Diike  of  Savoy  persecuted  the 
Waldenses,  he  interceded  for  them.  When  Count  John 
of  Anhalt  Zerbst  became  Lutheran  and  tried  to  force  his 
Reformed  subjects  to  become  Lutheran,  the  Great  Elector 
interceded  for  them,  but  he  only  partly  succeeded  in  hav- 
ing the  Nicolai  church  at  Zerbst  retained  for  them.  When 
the  Romish  Duke  of  Pfalz-lS^euburg  began  to  oppress  his 
Reformed  subjects  by  taking  away  their  churches,  Fred- 
erick William  made  reprisals  in  his  own  land  of  Cleve. 
He  also  sent  an  army  of  5000  into  the  Duke's  territories^ 
until  the  Duke  stopped  his  persecutions.  When  the  Re- 
formed were  persecuted  in  Hungary,  he  had  an  agent  at 
Presburg  to  aid  them,  and  when  the  Dutch  Admiral  De 
Ruyter   rescued   thirty   Hungarian   Reformed    ministers 


148  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   (GERMANY. 

from  the  galleys  at  Naples,  he  gladly  furnished  the  money 
for  their  travelling  expenses  to  a  Protestant  land.  He 
was  also  deeply  interested  in  the  expedition  of  Prince 
William  of  Orange  to  England  to  take  the  throne,  for  he 
feared  another  religious  war  in  Europe.  So  he  sent  9000 
Brandenburg  troops,  and  also  his  best  general,  Marshall 
Schomberg,  to  aid  William  to  gain  the  decisive  battle  of 
the  Boyne.  Thus,  as  one  writer  says,  Frederick  William 
appears  in  defence  of  the  Reformed,  as  Frederick  III.  of 
the  Palatinate  had  appeared  for  the  Heidelberg  Catechism 
in  the  previous  century  at  the  Diet  of  Augsburg.  If  such 
was  his  interest  for  the  Reformed  of  other  lands,  we  can 
expect  that  he  showed  the  same  interest  for  the  Reformed 
of  his  own  land.  Although  only  three  Reformed  churches 
existed  in  his  realm  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  many 
more  were  organized  before  its  close.  His  prime  minis- 
ter, Von  Schwerin,  bought  Alt  Landsburg,  three  miles 
from  Berlin,  and  introduced  Dutch  colonists  into  it,  who 
founded,  in  1620,  a  Reformed  church,  the  first  new  Re- 
formed church  in  Brandenburg.  As  the  new  districts 
(the  Dorothean  and  the  Werder)  of  Berlin  were  built,  he 
erected  churches  in  them,  at  which  was  a  Reformed  pastor. 
He  built  the  Reformed  castle  chapel  at  Potsdam  in  1687. 
Hering,  in  his  History  of  the  Brandenburg  Reformed 
Church,  mentions  twelve  Reformed  churches  organized 
during  his  reign.  In  addition  to  these  he  prepared  the 
way  for  the  organization  of  many  more,  for  he   welcomed 


PIETY   OF   GREAT   ELECTOR.  149 

the  French  refugees,  who  founded  many  Reformed 
churches  about  the  time  or  soon  after  his  death.  He  was 
a  most  pious  Prince  and  set  a  good  example  of  piety  for 
his  people.  Morning  and  evening  he  had  service  in  his 
chamber.  He  attended  the  Lord's  Supper  regularly,  and 
on  all  Reformed  festival  days  he  attended  church  in  the 
morning,  and  in  the  afternoon  listened  to  the  explanation 
of  a  psalm.  When  he  went  into  battle,  he  prepared  him- 
self by  prayer.  And  often  publicly  before  the  soldiers  he 
had  prayer  in  his  carriage.  At  the  Battle  of  Fehrbellin 
he  called  his  retainers  to  him,  saying,  "  I  could  not  sleep, 
but  I  feel  sure  God  will  give  us  the  victory.'^  And  after 
the  battle  he  wrote,  that  not  to  himself,  but  to  God 
belonged  the  honor  of  the  victory.  As  he  was  so  careful 
to  observe  the  private  devotions,  he  also  favored  public 
services  for  his  people.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  to  the 
Reformed  that  the  beautiful  street  in  Berlin,  "  Under  the 
Lindens,''  which  was  originally  laid  out  by  Frederick's 
second  wife,  Dorothea,  a  Reformed  princess,  w^as  at  first 
used  for  open  air  service  for  the  Reformed.  When  the 
church  in  the  Dorothean "district  was  being  built,  open  air 
services  were  held  there  on  pleasant  afternoons  under 
three  great  lindens,  which  marked  the  spot  and  which 
were  the  beginning  of  that  beautiful  street.  When  he 
was  offered  the  crown  of  Poland  in  1668,  if  he  would 
renounce  his  faith  and  become  a  Romanist,  he  nobly 
replied,  ^^And  were  it  the  Emperor's  throne,  I  Avould  cast 
it  aside,  if  I  had  to  purchase  it  by  the  loss  of  my  religion." 


150  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMAXY. 

Indeed^  his  earnest  zeal  for  the  Reformed  faith  has 
been  misinterpreted.  He  has  been  charged  with  bigotry, 
as  in  the  famous  case  of  Paul  Gerhardt.  This  needs  to  be 
considered.  For  according  to  the  legend,  Paul  Gerhardt 
was  persecuted  by  Elector  Frederick  William,  driven  out 
of  Brandenburg,  and  was  in  great  need,  when  he  was  led 
to  write  the  famous  hymn,  "  Commit  thou  all  thy  griefs,'^ 
and  yet  his  faith  was  rewarded  by  receiving  just  then  an 
appointment  from  the  Elector  of  Saxony  to  the  abbacy  of 
Lubben.  This  legend  reflects  on  the  great  Elector,  as  if 
he  were  a  bigot  and  a  persecutor.  But  the  legend  is  not 
true  to  facts.  The  opposite  to  the  legend  is  true.  Not 
Frederick  William,  but  Paul  Gerhardt,  was  the  bigot. 
Paul  Gerhardt  was  pastor  of  the  St.  Nicholas  Lutheran 
church  at  Berlin  in  1657,  and  became  the  most  popular 
preacher  in  the  city.  It  happened  that  the  Lutherans  often 
attacked  the  Reformed  from  their  pulpits  as  heretics. 
The  Elector  determined  that  these  scandalous  polemics, 
which  brought  so  much  disgrace  to  the  cause  of  religion, 
should  be  stopped,  and  that  the  gospel  should  be  preached 
instead  of  polemics.  He  then,  June  2,  1662,  renewed  the 
edict  of  his  grandfather,  Elector  John  Sigismund,  made  in 
1614,  which  forbade  all  polemical  attacks  on  the  faith  of 
others.  He  also  forbade  any  theological  students  of  his 
province  from  going  to  the  University  of  Wittenberg, 
which  was  the  place  where  the  minds  of  the  students  were  so 
prejudiced  against  the  Reformed.     This  last  decree  caused 


POLEMICS   ARE    FORBIDDEN.  151 

a  tremendous  sensation  and  much  opposition,  as  most  of 
the  Lutheran  students  of  his  land  went  to  Wittenbero:. 
He  also  ordered  that  all  Lutheran  theological  students, 
when  they  were  admitted  to  the  ministry,  must  take  a 
pledge  that  they  would  not  attack  the  Reformed  from  the 
pulpit.  This  many  of  them  said  they  could  not  do,  for 
their  creed,  the  Formula  of  Concord,  condemned  the  Re- 
formed doctrine.  It  was  therefore  a  matter  of  conscience 
to  them  that  they  should  be  true  to  their  creed,  and,  like 
it,  attack  the  Reformed.  He  held  a  conference  on  union 
in  1662,  in  w^hich  Gerhardt  refused  to  fraternize  with  the 
Reformed.  As  his  efforts  were  not  regarded  by  some  of 
the  ministry,  and  polemics  against  the  Reformed  continued, 
the  Elector  two  years  later  (September  16,  1664)  issued  a 
sharper  edict  which  threatened  the  offenders  with  dismissal 
from  their  positions,  and  demanded  of  every  Lutheran 
minister  his  subscription  to  a  document  pledging  them 
not  to  attack  the  Reformed  under  pain  of  dismissal.  This 
edict  caused  a  still  greater  disturbance  throughout  the 
land.  In  the  Mark  two  hundred  ministers  signed  it,  but 
many  delayed  signing.  Of  the  ministers  in  Berlin,  Lilius 
and  Reinhar  refused  to  sign  it.  They  were,  therefore, 
removed  in  April,  1665.  Lilius,  however,  retracted  in 
February,  1666,  and  was  again  restored  to  his  position. 
But  Reinhard  left  the  land. 

It  now  came  to  Gerhard t's  turn.     He  was  very  much 
opposed  to  the  edict.      At   the   conference   between   the 


152  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

Lutherans  and  Reformed  in  1662,  he  had  said,  ^'  I  do  not 
hold  the  Calvinists  for  Christians."*  Gerhardt  was  called 
before  the  consistory,  February  13,  and  given  fourteen 
days  to  consider  whether  he  would  agree  not  to  attack  the 
Reformed.  But  before  he  left  the  consistory,  he  declared 
that  he  would  not  sign  the  pledge.  He  was  therefore  dis- 
missed, although  his  dismissal  caused  great  sorrow. 
Sympathy  for  him  was  increased,  because  just  then  he  lost 
a  son,  and  his  wife  went  into  a  decline.  Meetings  were 
held  in  the  city  in  his  interest,  and  petitions  were  sent  to 
the  Elector  interceding  for  him.  The  trades  of  Berlin, 
the  town  council,  and  finally  the  states  of  Brandenburg, 
yes,  even  the  Reformed  ministers  joined  in  these  petitions. 
Personally  the  Elector  had  the  highest  regard  for  Gerhardt, 
and  had  already  put  one  of  his  hymns  into  the  Mark  Re- 
formed hymn  book.  But  the  Elector  felt  that  there  was 
a  principle  at  stake.  He  determined  that  there  should  be 
religious  toleration.  He  had  made  up  his  mind  that  these 
denunciations  of  the  Reformed  by  the  Lutherans  must 
stop,  and  the  Reformed  must  be  treated  as  breth- 
ren. Finally,  perhaps  through  the  intercession  of  his 
wife,  tlie  beautiful  Electress  Louisa  Henrietta,  who  was  a 
great  friend  of  Paul  Gerhardt,  he  gave  way.  Because 
Gerhardt  had  not  been  accustomed  to  publicly  attacking  the 
Reformed  in  his  services,  an  exception  would  be  made  of 
him.     The   Elector,  therefore,   permitted   him  to   resume 

*  See  "John  Sigismund  and  Paul  Gerhardt,"  by  Wangeman,  page  172. 


PAUL    GERHARDT.  153 

his  office  without  subscribing  to  the  edict,  or  pledging 
himself  not  to  attack  the  Reformed.  From  all  this 
we  see  that  it  was  the  Elector  who  was  tolerant, 
and  Gerhardt  who  was  intolerant.  It  was  the  Elector 
who  was  acting  mercifully  (instead  of  persecuting),  by 
making  Gerhardt  the  exception  to  the  edict.  The  legend 
is  evidently  wrong.  This  is  the  more  evident,  the  farther 
Ave  proceed  with  the  true  story.  The  Elector  sent  word 
to  Gerhardt  that  he  was  reappointed  to  his  old  position  as 
pastor  of  St.  Nicolas  church,  but  added  that  he  relied  on 
Gerhardt's  well  known  moderation,  so  that  without  sub- 
scribing to  the  edict,  he  would  still  carry  it  out  in  spirit. 
But  Gerhardt's  conscience  would  not  rest  easy  under  such 
an  implied  subscription  to  the  edict.  He  felt  he  had  gone 
back  somewhat  on  his  creed,  the  Formula  of  Concord, 
which  condemns  the  Reformed  doctrine  as  heretical.  So  he 
w^as  unhappy  under  it,  and,  therefore,  Avrote  to  the  magis- 
trates soon  after,  January  26,  1667,  asking  to  be  relieved 
of  his  position  as  pastor,  because  his  conscience  gave  him 
no  rest  under  the  implied  subscription  to  the  edict. 
There  is  no  question  that  Gerhardt  was  conscientious,  but 
at  the  same  time  the  Elector  ought  not  to  be  blamed  for 
Gerhardt's  hyper-conscientiousness.  Gerhardt  was,  there- 
fore, dismissed.  He  was  not  driven  from  his  position,  as 
the  legend  says,  but  resigned  it  of  his  own  accord.  And 
there  is  still  another  fact  to  show  that  the  Elector  was  not 
cruel,  but  kind.  For  six  months  the  Elector  waited 
11 


154  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

without  appointing  a  successor,  hoping  that  Gerhardt 
would  reconsider  his  withdrawal.  Now  in  view  of  these 
facts  the  legend,  that  he  was  driven  out  of  Berlin  by 
the  Elector,  and  ordered  to  leave  within  four  hours,  and 
that  penniless  and  helpless  he  wrote  his  hymn,  "  Commit 
thou  all  thy  griefs,"  is  all  false.  For  the  Elector  waited 
a  year  before  Gerhardt  was  finally  dismissed,  and  even 
then  suffered  six  months  more  to  elapse,  hoping  that  he 
would  reconsider  the  matter.  Instead  of  haste,  there  was 
delay,  and  every  opportunity  was  given  to  Gerhardt  to 
return.  No,  it  was  the  Elector  who  was  broad-minded 
in  his  sympathies  here,  and  who  longed  for  the  two  denomi- 
nations to  treat  each  other  as  brethren,  while  Gerhardt 
was  narrow  and  bigoted,  and  refused  to  promise  to  treat 
the  Reformed  as  brethren.  Gerhardt  was  called  to  the 
abbacy  of  Lubben,  September,  1668,  where  he  afterwards 
died. 

The  Elector  ruled  Brandenburg  for  forty-eight  years. 
His  second  wife,  after  the  death  of  Louisa  Henrietta,  was 
Princess  Dorothea  of  Holstein  who  left  the  Lutheran  faith 
to  become  Reformed.  He  named  the  Dorothean  district 
after  her.  She  planted  the  first  lindep  in  that  now  famous 
street,  ^'  Under  the  Linden."  That  street  is  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  great  growtli  from  the  Elector's  small  begin- 
ning, and  is  therefore  a  monument  to  his  memory,  and  to 
the  Reformed  Princess  who  first  started  it.  He  died 
April    29,    1688,  at   Potsdam.     He   was   a   pious   man. 


DEATH    OF    FREDERICK    WILLIAM.  155 

Whenever  he  went,  into  his  campaigns,  he  took  his  New 
Testament  and  his  Psalms  with  him.  When  he  found 
any  among  his  citizens  careless  about  religion,  he  tried  to 
influence  him,  saying :  "  It  is  a  good  thing  for  a  man  to 
be  pious,  but  he  must  be  also  upright.'^  His  death  was  a 
triumphant  one.  When  his  court  preacher  came  into  his 
room,  he  joyfully  said,  "  I  have  fought  the  good  fight,  I 
have  finished  my  course.''  When  asked  as  to  his  hope, 
he  replied :  "  Christ  is  mine  and  I  am  His."  He  died 
with,  "  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  lives,"  on  his  lips. 
His  motto  at  the  battle  of  Warsaw,  "  With  God,"  was 
fulfilled  as  he  was  taken  to  be  with  God.  One  of  his  last 
sentences  was,  ^'  While  I  breathe,  I  hope  and  my  hope  is 
in  Christ." 


CHAPTEE  I.— SECTION  II. 
ELECTRESS  LOUISA  HENRIETTA. 

More  interesting  even  than  the  Great  Elector,  is  his 
first  wife,  Louisa  Henrietta.  She  too  was  greatly  inter- 
ested in  the  French  refugees,  for  she  was  the  grand- 
daughter of  Coligny.  She  is  the  saint  and  songstress  of 
the  German  Reformed  Church.  What  Miriam  was  among 
the  Israelites,  she  was  to  the  Reformed — the  sweet  singer 
of  Israel.  She  was  a  Dutch  Princess  descended  from  the 
great  families  of  Colignj  and  Orange.  Her  father.  Count 
Frederick  Henry  of  Orange-Nassau,  was  governor  of  the 
Netherlands  from  1625  to  1647.  Her  mother  was  a  Ger- 
man Princess,  Countess  Amalie  of  Solms.  She  was  thus  of 
noble  blood,  but  made  nobler  by  grace.  She  was  born  at 
the  Hague,  November  27,  1627.  Both  of  her  parents 
were  of  the  Reformed  faith.  Her  mother,  a  woman  of 
unusual  intelligence,  piety  and  beauty,  educated  her  with 
great  care.  Although  French  fashions  were  popular  at 
the  court,  she  did  not  think  it  beneath  her  to  train  her 
daughter  in  the  mysteries  of  housekeeping.  Louisa  grew 
up  tall,  fair-haired  and  graceful.  Her  religious  training 
she  received  from  Rivet,  a  Reformed  theologian.  She 
loved  her  Bible,  and  it  became  her  constant  companion. 


MARRIAGE   OF    LOUISA    HENRIETTA.  157 

Many  passages,  especially   from  Isaiah,   remained  in  her 
memory  as  the  result  of  her  early  training. 

When  she  was  about  eighteen  years  of  ao-e,  Elector 
Frederick  William  of  Brandenl^urg  was  busy  in  Western 
Germany  watching  the  negotiations  that  closed  the  Thirty 
Years'  War.  He  also  began  negotiations  of  love  as  well 
as  of  peace.  As  he  had  been  educated  in  Holland,  he 
knew  Louisa  when  she  was  a  girl,  and  had  heard  of  her 
beauty  as  a  young  lady.  This  brave  young  Prince  there- 
fore proposed  to  this  beautiful  Princess,  and  was  accepted. 
Of  course  there  were  difficulties  in  the  way,  for  when  did 
the  course  of  true  love  run  smooth  even  to  princes  ?  The 
Thirty  Years'  War  had  so  impoverished  his  land,  that  he 
had  to  borrow  three  thousand  thalers  of  his  mother  in 
order  to  get  married.  Louisa  too  was  held  back,  because 
her  father  was  in  such  poor  health.  But  the  wedding 
came  off,  December  7,  1646,  with  great  splendor,  as  was 
becoming  Princes  of  such  high  rank.*  But  the  bride  did  not 
go  to  Germany  immediately  after  the  wedding  on  account 
of  the  ill  health  of  her  father.  Faithfully  she  ministered 
to  him  until  he  died,  about  three  months  after  the  wed- 
ding. Then  she  accompanied  her  husband  to  Cleve,  in 
Western  Germany.  Here  her  first  child  was  born.  The 
peace  of  Westphalia  having  closed  the  war,   the  Elector 

*  The  bride  wore  a  costly  dress  of  sih^er  brocade,  rich  with  Brabaut  lace. 
A  crown  of  pearls  and  brilliants  adorned  her  head.  The  long  train  of  her 
dress  were  carried  by  six  ladies  of  noble  birth.  The  elector  was  not  less 
elegantly  dressed.  He  wore  pants  and  vest  of  white  satin.  The  front  of  his  veat 
was  so  full  of  diamonds,  that  one  could  hardly  discover  the  color  of  the  cloth. 


158  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

started  toward  his  capital,  Berlin.  It  was  a  long,  hard 
and  sad  journey.  When  they  arrived  at  Wesel,  their  child 
died.  The  journey  was  made  all  the  sadder  because  of  the 
terrible  devastations  of  the  war.  The  roads  were  in  a 
frightful  condition,  the  fields  were  desolate,  the  people 
were  poor  and  many  of  them  starving.  Their  sufferings, 
added  to  her  own  sorrows,  made  the  journey  very  sad. 
But  her  sorrows  only  drove  her  closer  to  her  Lord.  Sad 
hearts  sing  sweetest  songs.  At  Tangermiinde  she  had  a 
month  of  rest  and  quiet.  Here  she  poured  out  her  soul 
in  that  immortal  German  hymn,  ^' Jesus,  meine  Zuver- 
sicht.''  It  was  the  out-growth  of  her  sorrows  over  the 
loss  of  her  child,  and  revealed  her  beautiful  hope  in  Christ. 
It  is  evidently  based  on  the  46th  Psalm :  '^  God  is  our 
refuge  (Zuversicht)  and  strength;"  also  on  Job  19;  25, 
27  :  "  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth,''  and  on  1  Corin- 
thians, 15th  chapter.  The  following  is  a  translation 
(although  it  is  difficult  in  translations  to  bring  out  the 
beauty  of  the  original) : 

Jesus  my  Redeemer  lives, 
And  His  life  I  soon  shall  see ; 
Bright  the  hope  this  promise  gives ; 
Where  He  is,  I  too  shall  be. 
Shall  I  fear  Him?  Can  the  Head 
Rise  and  leave  the  members  dead  ? 

Close  to  Him  my  soul  is  bound, 
In  the  bonds  of  hope  enclasped  ; 
Faith's  strong  hand  this  hold  hath  found, 
And  the  Rock  hath  firmly  grasped. 
Death  shall  ne'er  my  soul  remove 
From  the  refuge  in  Thy  love. 


"  JESUS,    MEINE   ZUVERSICHT."  159 

I  shall  see  Him  with  these  eyes, 
Him  whom  I  shall  surely  know, 
Not  another  shall  I  rise  ; 
With  His  love  my  heart  shall  glow ; 
Only  there  shall  disappear 
Weakness  in  and  round  me  here. 

Ye  who  suffer,  sigh  and  moan, 
Fresh  and  glorious  there  shall  reign ; 
Earthly  here  the  seed  is  sown. 
Heavenly  it  shall  rise  again ; 
Natural  here  the  death  we  die. 
Spiritual  our  life  on  high. 

Body,  be  thou  of  good  cheer. 
In  thy  Savior's  care  rejoice ; 
Give  not  place  to  gloom  and  fear. 
Dead,  thou  yet  shalt  know  His  voice, 
When  the  final  trump  is  heard. 
And  the  deaf,  cold  grave  is  stirred. 

Laugh  to  scorn,  then  death  and  hell, 
Fear  no  more  the  gloomy  grave ; 
Caught  into  the  air  to  dwell 
With  the  Lord  who  comes  to  save. 
We  shall  trample  on  our  foes. 
Mortal  weakness,  fear  and  woes. 

Only  see  ye  that  your  heart 
Rise  betimes  from  earthly  lust 
Would  ye  there  with  Him  have  part, 
Here  obey  your  Lord  and  trust. 
Fix  your  hearts  above  the  skies. 
Whither  ye  yourselves  would  rise. 

How  grandly  she  rises  over  her  sorrows  in  this  hymn, 
and  how  sweetly  she  comforts  others  by  it.  She  then 
traveled  with  her  husband  through  Minden  and  Halber- 
stadt  to  Berlin,  where,  after  a  six  months'  journey,  she 


160  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF    GERMANY. 

arrived,  April  10,  1650.  Berlin  had  suffered  severely 
through  the  war,  and  was  then  a  city  of  only  a  few  thous- 
and inhabitants.  The  Elector  had  begun  to  make 
improvements,  and  the  castle  was  again  fitted  up.  The 
side  of  it  towards  the  river  Spree,  which  had  been  used  as 
a  prison,  and  called  'Hhe  green  hat,''  he  refitted  into 
pleasant  apartments  for  his  wife.  The  park  before  the 
place,  which  through  the  war  had  become  a  wilderness, 
he  again  beautified  by  planting  trees  and  flowers,  even 
planting  onions  (then  so  fashionable  with  the  Dutch) 
among  the  tulip  and  hyacinth  beds. 

But  the  Electress  was  not  fond  of  the  gayety  of  court 
life.  She  preferred  a  quieter  home,  where  she  could 
meditate  upon  her  God.  It  liappened  one  day,  while  out 
hunting,  that  she  expressed  herself  delighted  with  an  old 
hiinting  castle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  north  of  Berlin. 
Her  kind  husband,  ever  ready  to  satisfy  her  slightest 
wish,  presented  it  to  her,  together  with  the  neighboring 
<listrict.  He  began  building  a  castle  for  her  there,  which 
was  finished  in  1652.  She  then  removed  there,  having 
given  it  the  name  of  Oranienburg  (the  castle  of  Orange), 
naming  it  after  her  family,  the  family  of  Orange-Nassau. 
This  is  the  place  especially  associated  with  her  life.  She 
labored  to  make  the  district  around  the  castle  as  product- 
ive as  possible.  She  imported  skilled  gardeners  from 
Holland,  and  founded  quite  a  Dutch  colony  there. 
Among  other  things,  she  introduced  the  potato  from  Hoi- 


ELECTRESS   LOUISA   HENRIETTA  OF  BRANDENBURG. 


LOUISA   AT   ORANIENBURG.  161 

land,  which  proved  to  be  a  great  boon  to  the  Germans 
who  had  become  poor  through  the  devastations  of  the 
war,  and  soon  the  potato  was  universally  cultivated.  Of 
course  these  Hollanders  brought  their  Reformed  relio^ion 
with  them,  and  there  was  a  Reformed  church  founded 
there.  She  was  continually  doing  good.  She  founded 
primary  schools,  where  the  war  had  swept  them  away. 
Every  day  she  was  showing  some  kindness  to  the  people. 
No  w^onder  she  became  a  great  favorite  among  them. 
They  named  most  of  their  daughters  after  her.  And  as 
late  as  half  a  century  ago,  her  portrait  was  still  found  on 
the  walls  of  many  farmers^  houses.  As  an  illustration  of 
her  kindly  spirit,  the  following  story  is  told.  On  one 
occasion  one  of  her  servants  stole  something;  while  she 
w^as  at  church.  When  she  learned  of  the  theft,  instead  of 
punishing  him,  she  gave  him  a  goodly  number  of  ducats, 
and  told  him  to  get  away  as  quickly  as  possible,  before 
her  husband  found  it  out.  When  her  husband  heard  of 
the  theft,  he  became  very  angry,  and  said  he  would  have 
hung  the  thief.  To  this  she  responded  :  '^  Even  if  all  my 
gold  and  jewels  were  stolen,  yet,  if  I  had  my  way,  not  a 
drop  of  blood  would  be  shed  for  it.'' 

In  this  rural  palace  she  lived  in  religious  quietness. 
She  was  very  diligent  in  her  devotions.  Much  of  her 
time  Avas  taken  up  in  singing,  reading  of  Scriptures  and 
other  religious  exercises.  She  was  always  at  church  ser- 
vice.    It  is  said,  she  made  it  a  rule  never  to  look  into  a 


162  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

looking-glass  before  going  to  church,  for  fear  pride  and 
fashion  would  disturb  her  thoughts.  Her  court  preacher, 
Stosch,  held  many  religious  services  in  her  palace.  She 
was  always  very  glad  to  see  him,  and  gave  orders  that 
when  he  arrived,  he  would  not  have  to  observe  the  usual 
rules  of  court  etiquette,  and  have  himself  announced,  but 
could  at  once  go  to  her  apartments  without  such  for- 
mality. Often  she  conversed  with  him  on  religious  topics 
for  three  liours  at  a  time.  He  bore  a  high  testimony  to 
her  religious  character,  as  he  said  :  "  I  have  spent  many 
hundred  hours  with  her  in  private  audience,  talking  to 
her  about  spiritual  things.''  Indeed  her  room  was  more 
like  a  temple  than  a  palace,  for  nothing  that  was  not 
religious  was  allowed  there.  She  always  had  morning 
and  evening  prayers. 

She  had  not  been  well  since  the  loss  of  her  first  child, 
and  in  1653  sickness  still  further  reduced  her  strength, 
and  a  secret  source  of  anxiety  weighed  on  her  heart.  She 
had  no  child,  and  she  foresaw  that  if  her  line  had  no 
heir,  it  would  plunge  her  land  into  untold  troubles  and 
wars  about  the  succession  to  the  throne,  and  she  feared 
lest  a  Romish  Prince  might  become  Elector.  She  also 
heard  the  complaint  of  her  people,  that  her  line  would 
run  out  with  her.  For  a  long  time,  like  Hannah  of  old, 
she  carried  her  burden  and  prayed.  At  last  her  anxiety 
became  too  great  to  be  borne.  And  in  her  utter  self-abne- 
gation she  came  to  a  decision  that  for  the  sake  of  her  land 


BIRTH   OF   HER   SON.  163 

and  of  her  husband  she  would  formally  withdraw  by 
divorce.  She  came  to  Berlin  and  announced  her  decision. 
But  the  Elector  nobly  refused  her  proposal,  replying,  ^'  I 
will  be  true  to  you,  and  if  it  is  God's  will  to  punish  the 
land,  we  must  submit,  God  can  still  help.  ^ly  Louisa, 
have  you  forgotten  the  words,  ^  What  God  hath  joined 
together,  let  no  man  put  asunder.'  "  Greatly  relieved  and 
comforted  by  his  decision,  she  went  back  to  Oranienburg. 
Her  prayers  were  finally  heard.  The  Lord  did  for  her  as 
for  Hannah.  On  Tuesday,  February  16,  1655,  a  son, 
Emil,  was  born,  and  in  memory  of  that  event,  every 
Tuesday  after  that  was  kept  sacred  by  prayer,  as  a  fast 
day  on  which  she  had  religious  service.  In  connection 
with  the  birth  of  this  child,  Bergius  preached  seven  ser- 
mons on  Hannah's  prayer,  its  answer  and  her  thank- 
fulness, which  Avere  published.  In  1665  she  opened  an 
orphanage  at  Oranienburg  as  a  thank  offering  to  God 
for  the  gift  of  a  son. 

During  the  wars  that  followed  she  was  her  husband's 
firm  support  and  adviser.  In  spite  of  rough  roads  and 
the  dangers  of  war,  she  went  with  him  on  his  journeys. 
During  the  Swedish  war  she  bravely  went  with  him  to 
Koenigsberg,  although  the  roads  were  in  such  a  frightful 
condition  that  she  could  travel  only  eight  miles  in  two 
days.  The  Swedes  then  forced  the  Elector  to  join  them 
against  the  Poles.  As  a  result  the  Poles  and  Tartars  rav- 
aged Brandenburg  terribly,  burning  no  less  than  31  towns 


164  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

and  murdering  many  thousand  inhabitants.  These  terri- 
ble events  so  preyed  on  her  mind  that  she  suffered  from 
horrible  dreams.  During  the  wars  she  was  very  solicit- 
ous for  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  soldiers,  and  ordered 
that  a  New  Testament  should  be  given  to  each  soldier. 
After  the  war  she  bore  another  son,  Frederick,  who  became 
the  next  King.  She  followed  her  husband  in  the  Pome- 
ranian war  with  the  Swedes,  travelling  with  him  as  far 
as  the  upper  end  of  Jutland.  Then  she  went  to  western 
Germany,  where  she  contracted  a  cold,  which  produced  a 
severe  cough.  She  went  to  Holland,  hoping  to  get  better. 
In  spite  of  inclement  weather  she  never  gave  up  attend- 
ing church.  But  on  March  14,  as  she  came  out  of  church 
service,  she  remarked  to  her  lady  in  waiting  that  she 
feared  she  might  never  live  to  get  back  to  Berlin.  After 
Easter  she  started  for  Berlin,  for  she  was  very  anxious  to 
see  her  husband  and  children  before  she  died.  The  jour- 
ney was  a  rough  and  long  one.  She  became  weaker  and 
weaker  on  the  way.  When  she  arrived  at  Hamm  in 
"Westphalia,  she  thought  she  would  die.  But  she  prayed 
God  most  earnestly  to  spare  her  life,  that  she  might  see 
her  husband  again,  and  then  she  would  say,  "  Lord,  now 
lettest  Thou  Thy  handmaiden  depart  in  peace.''  Her 
prayer  was  answered,  her  husband  came  as  far  as  Halber- 
stadt  to  meet  her,  and  the  rest  of  tbe  journey  she  had  to 
make  in  a  sedan  chair,  because  she  was  so  weak.  She 
was,  however,  greatly  comforted  all  through  her  journey 


DEATH    OF    LOUISA    HENRIETTA.  165 

by  the  ministrations  of  Spanheim,  one  of  the  most 
renowned  Reformed  theologians  of  that  day.  He  said  of 
her  that  '^  Her  patience  is  an  example  for  us.  Job  and 
Jonah  murmured  ;  David  cried  out :  How  long  ?  but  she 
never  complained  because  of  her  Aveakness.  She  only 
complained  that  she  gave  so  much  trouble  to  others.'^ 
One  day  he  preached  to  her  on  the  text,  ^'  God  with  us." 
She  beautifully  applied  it  to  her  own  case.  "  God  with 
us,  what  a  comfort  in  the  sorrow  of  solitude,  in  dangerous 
waters,  in  the  house  of  sorrow."  Finally  she  arrived  at 
Berlin.  Prayers  were  offered  up  in  all  the  churches  for  her 
recovery.  But  still  her  weakness  and  sickness  increased. 
The  Elector  often  watched  beside  her  and  comforted  her 
by  repeating  Scripture  texts.  Not  long  before  her  death 
her  chaplain,  Stosch,  asked  her  "  if  she  felt  that  God  was 
a  gracious  Father  ?"  She  replied,  "  Yes."  That  testi- 
mony was  her  last  word,  for  she  died  a  few  days  later,  on 
June  28,  1667.  The  whole  land  mourned  her  departure. 
Stosch  preached  a  funeral  sermon  on  Job  13 :  15  : 
''  Though  he  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  him."  She  was 
greatly  missed  by  the  nation,  but  by  none  so  much  as  l)y 
the  Elector.  For  she  inherited  the  wisdom  of  a  states- 
woman  from  her  ancestors,  Coligny  and  William  of 
Orange,  and  often  had  given  him  the  best  of  advice  in 
his  political  movements.  After  her  death  he  was  often 
found  standing  before  her  picture,  crying  out :  "  O 
Louisa,  Louisa,  if  you  were  only  with  me  with  yourcoun- 


166  THE    REFOEMED    CHUECH    OF   GEEMANY. 

sels."  Fev/  Princesses  were  so  loved  as  she.  Her 
memorj  still  remains  green  among  the  German  people. 
JSTearlj  two  hundred  years  after  lier  death  the  town  of 
Oranienburg  erected  a  monument  to  her.  It  is  a  life- 
size  statue,  standing  on  a  granite  pedestal  nine  feet  high. 
Her  head  is  adorned  with  a  diamond.  In  her  right  hand 
is  a  roll — the  manuscript  of  the  founding  of  the  orphan- 
age there.  Her  earthly  beauty  and  her  heavenly  piety, 
her  sweet  womanhood  and  her  strong  statesmanship  make 
her  one  of  the  most  remarkable  persons  in  Reformed 
Church  history.  Like  Abel,  she  being  dead,  yet  speak- 
€th,  for  she  gained  an  earthly  immortality  through  her 
hymn,  as  well  as  a  heavenly  immortality  with  her  Savior. 
She  wrote  four  hymns,  which  were  published  in  Runge's 
hymn  book  in  Berlin,  1653.  We  have  mentioned  "  Jesus, 
meine  Zuversicht ;"  the  other  hymns  were,  ^'  Ein  Anderer 
stelle  sein  Vertrauen,"  "  Gott  der  Reichthum  deiner 
Giite,''  "  Ich  will  von  meiner  Missethat.'^* 

But  her  greatest  hymn  was,  "  Jesus,  meine  Zuver- 
sicht.'^  It  was  the  key  to  her  life — the  expression  of  her 
confidence  in  God.  She  said  on  one  occasion  to  Stoscli 
and  Spanheim,  "  If  the  Lord  Jesus  were  still  on  earth,  I 
would  humble  myself  still  more,  yes,  I  would  hang  upon 
him  like  the  Canaanitish  woman.  But  what  I  cannot  do 
in  reality,  I  will  do  in  spirit,  in  heart  and  in  truest  con- 
fidence."    She  often  sang  this  hymn,  especially  at  Easter. 

*  For  this  hymn  see  Appendix  I. 


"  JESUS,    MEINE   ZUVERSICHT/^  167 

A  question  has  been  raised  about  her  authorship  of  the 
hymn.  It  has  been  said  she  was  not  able  to  write  Ger- 
man sufficiently  well  to  compose  such  a  masterpiece  in  the 
German  language.  But  although  another  hand,  probably 
Von  Schwerin  (who  was  also  a  poet  and  hymn  writer) 
may  have  polished  it  of  its  Hollandisms,  yet  the  expres- 
sion is  hers.  At  any  rate  the  hymn  book  published  in 
her  lifetime  ascribes  it  to  her,  and  Runge,  the  publislier  of 
it,  knew  whether  she  wrote  it.  This  would  seem  to  be 
proof  enough  of  her  authorship. 

This  hymn  became  a  favorite  one  in  the  royal  family 
of  Prussia.  One  of  her  successors.  Queen  Louisa,  the 
good  angel  of  Prussia  at  the  beginning  of  this  century 
and  during  the  wars  of  Napoleon,  was  once  standing 
before  a  picture  of  Electress  Louisa  Henrietta  in  the  gal- 
lery of  Charlottenburg,  and  said  :  "  The  charming  hymn 
has  received  citizenship  in  our  Church  and  in  all  our  fam- 
ilies. There  is  hidden  in  it  a  wonderful  living  strength. 
Whenever  one  hears  it  at  dying-beds,  in  churches,  at  coffins 
and  graves,  there  is  always  something  new  in  the  comfort 
and  joy  that  it  bears  and  gives.  Only  a  child-like,  believing 
heart  like  yours  could  have  given  such  pure  and  beautiful 
utterance."  And,  after  being  silent  for  a  while,  she  sat 
down  at  the  piano  and  sang  it.  This  hymn  has  become 
one  of  the  great  Easter  hymns  of  the  German  Church. 
Not  until  a  hundred  years  later,  did  Gellert's  famous 
hymn  appear,  ^'  Jesus  lebt,  mit  ihm  auch  ich,"  ("  Jesus 
lives,  and  so  do  I.'') 


168  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Many  beautiful  illustrations  are  told  in  connection 
with  this  hymn.  Frederick  William  lY.  gave  a  bell  at 
the  celebration  of  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
founding  of  the  Orphanage  at  Oranienburg,  September 
27,  1850.  He  named  the  bell  '^  Jesus,  meine  Zuversicht/^ 
and  it  has  on  it  as  an  inscription,  the  first  two  lines  of  the 
hymn.  At  the  dedication  of  the  bell,  the  first  two  verses 
were  sung:.  This  hvmn  has  laid  hold  of  the  hearts  of  the 
German  people,  and  is  especially  used  in  times  of  need. 
After  the  unfortunate  battle  of  Jena,  1806,  where  the  Prus- 
sian army  withdrew  in  an  irregular  flight  across  the  river 
Saale,  a  trumpeter  from  Langenzsalza  was  cut  off  from  his 
squadron  and  furiously  pursued  by  the  French  cavalry. 
Although  almost  baited  to  death,  the  brave  man  would 
not  surrender,  but  searched  the  banks  of  the  river  for  a 
place  to  cross.  He  finally  decided  that  swimming  the 
river  was  his  only  hope.  He  soon  came  in  his  flight  to 
one  of  those  places  where  the  bank  changes  into  a  perpen- 
dicular cliff,  with  the  river  rushing  in  giddy  depths  below. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  river  the  shore  was  flat  and  sandy. 
There  was  no  time  to  choose,  his  pursuers  were  on  his 
heels.  Quick  to  decide,  he  looked  up  to  God  and  prayed 
for  grace,  and  then  thrusting  the  spurs  into  the  horse's 
side,  he  plunged  into  the  rapid  river.  A  loud  cry  of 
astonishment  and  horror  rose  from  the  lips  of  his  pursuers, 
when  they  saw  what  he  had  done.  They  stopped  on  the 
edge  of  the  rocks  and  watched  him  rising  and  sinking  in 


HYMN    ILLUSTRATIONS.  1  69 

the  flood.  But  the  Lord  had  his  strong  arm  round  that 
Prussian.  His  brave  horse  was  not  dashed  to  pieces,  and 
he  finally  reached  the  other  side  of  the  river.  Without 
thinking  of  his  further  safety,  his  first  thought  was  of 
God.  He  knelt  down  on  the  flat  earth  to  thank  the  Lord 
for  his  wonderful  deliverance,  drew  his  trumpet  from 
behind  him  and  blew  in  trembling  tones  this  hymn : 
"  Jesus,  meine  Zuversicht."  The  enemy  on  the  opposite 
bank,  when  they  saw  him  land,  had  raised  their  carbines 
to  shoot,  but  his  actions  in  prayer  and  praise  so  impressed 
them  that  they  involuntarily  left  their  weapons  drop. 
Unfortunately  other  French  soldiers  coming  near  fostered 
no  such  timidity.  And  when  the  trumpeter^s  clear  note 
came  to  a  close,  a  deadly  shot  sent  his  praying  soul  to  the 
throne  of  praise. 

In  the  years  1867  and  1868  a  famine  raged  in  east- 
ern Prussia,  and  sick  people  were  accustomed  to  sing  this 
hymn  in  the  streets  as  a  prayer  for  help.  A  woman  of 
Goldapp  wrote  :  '^  I  can  no  longer  hear  that  hymn  from 
these  hungry  people  without  tears  coming  from  my 
eyes.''  It  was  sung  by  day,  but  it  is  fearful  to  hear  it  at 
evening  in  the  arms  of  a  howling  storm.  In  the  last 
war  of  1870  this  hymn  was  a  great  comfort  to  the  sol- 
diers. The  music  books  of  many  bands  contained  only 
two  sacred  chorals,  ^^  Nun  danket  alle  Gott,"  and  ^'  Jesus, 
meine  Zuversicht." 
12 


170  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

A  native  of  East  Friesland,  named  Baumgarten,  had 
a  very  heavy  cross  in  having  a  drunken  husband.  She 
often  sighed  and  prayed  about  it.  One  night  her  husband 
was  not  on  military  duty  until  2  o'clock  A.  M.  At  11  p. 
M.  that  night  he  sat  in  the  tavern.  She  went  to  God,  and 
then  to  the  tavern  where  he  was.  She  was  at  once 
summoned  by  his  uproarious  companions  to  aid  their 
carousal.  They  demanded  a  song  from  her  in  vain.  She 
begged  to  be  allowed  to  go  away.  She  finally  agreed  to 
sing,  and  she  sang  this  hymn.  When  she  was  through, 
her  husband  went  home  with  her,  but  seemed  unusually 
quiet.  That  song  had  been  an  arrow  to  his  heart.  It 
happened  that  the  conductor  of  his  transport  that  night 
while  he  was  on  duty  was  a  pious  dragoon,  who  belonged 
to  a  total  abstinence  society.  The  dragoon  also  talked 
with  him  and  so  deeply  impressed  him  that  he  was  com- 
pletely won  to  God  and  the  right.  Peter's  exhortation  in 
his  first  epistle  (third  chapter,  first  verse)  was  fulfilled, 
"  Likewise  ye  wives  be  in  subjection  to  your  husbands, 
that  if  any  obey  not  in  word,  they  also  may  with  the 
word  be  won  by  the  conversation  of  the  wives." 

During  the  war  between  the  Carlists  and  the  republi- 
cans in  Spain  in  1874,  the  Carlist  general  Gamundi  had 
captured  a  band  of  Sepayos  (republican  volunteers).  No 
one  wanted  to  grant  them  a  pardon.  As  he  could  not 
take  them  with  him,  he  gave  orders  that  they  should  be 
shot.     A  priest  was  sent  for  to  prepare  them  for  death. 


HYMN    ILLUSTRATIONS.  171 

Now  there  happened  to  be  with  the  Carlists  a  German 
officer,  who  was  highly  honored  by  them.  When  he 
heard  that  they  were  to  be  put  to  death,  he  wanted  to 
take  a  walk,  so  that  he  need  not  see  the  terrible  sight. 
But  his  path  happened  to  take  him  past  the  prisoners. 
Here  he  saw  how  the  priest  blessed  them.  He  also  noticed 
a  middle-aged  man  embracing  a  boy  about  14  years  old. 
An  old  man  contemplated  all  this  while  he  murmured  his 
prayer.  But  stop  ;  what  is  that  ?  Is  it  a  sound  from 
Germany  ?  The  hymn  rose  from  the  mouth  of  one  of  the 
soldiers,  "  Jesus,  meine  Zuversicht.'^  The  officer  could 
not  tear  himself  away  from  that  familiar  song  in  a  strange 
land.  He  hastened  to  the  General,  to  beg  for  the  life  of 
his  German  countryman.  The  General  underwent  a  hard 
struggle  before  he  granted  it,  for  the  Sepayos  had  lately 
murdered  his  only  son,  a  merchant.  The  German  offi- 
cer did  not  give  up,  but  reminded  him  of  his  pain  as  a 
father,  and  how  the  sparing  of  that  German  would  save 
another  son  from  the  grave,  and  save  another  father's 
heart.  The  General  granted  his  request,  and  so  the  Ger- 
man was  saved  through  the  singing  of  this  hymn. 

When  Ziegenbalg,  the  first  of  the  missionaries  to  the 
East  Indies  from  Germany,  was  dying,  he  called  to  his 
friends  who  stood  around  his  bed  and  asked  them  to  sing 
"  Jesus,  meine  Zuversicht."  As  they  sang  it,  it  seemed 
to  give  him  a  look  beyond  the  grave.  And  he  said  : 
^^  There  is  a  light  before  my  eyes  as  if  the  sun  shone  into 


172  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

my  face.''  His  spirit  rose  to  heaven  on  the  wings  of  that 
hymn.  ''  On  the  terrible  night  of  March  18  and  19, 1848, 
when  the  German  throne  trembled  in  the  throes  of  a  revo- 
lution/' says  Professor  Hengstenberg,  "  in  the  midst  of 
firing  of  guns  and  the  thunder  of  artillery  over  the  wild 
tumult  of  the  insurrection,  the  bells  in  the  church  tower 
played,  ^  Jesus,  meine  Zuversicht.' "  It  was  a  voice  of 
comfort  to  many  anxious  hearts.  Some  days  later,  on 
March  22,  it  was  again  heard  before  the  castle  as  187 
coffins  of  the  fallen  were  guarded  to  the  graves  by  20,000 
armed  and  unarmed  citizens. 

Thus  the  Electress  Louisa  Henrietta  still  lives  in  her 
hymn.  It  has  immortalized  her  in  Germany  and  in 
her  beloved  Reformed  Church. 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE  REFUGEES  IN  BRANDENBURG. 


SECTION  I. 
THE  GREAT  ELECTOR  AND  THE  REFUGEES, 
When  King  Louis  XIV.  of  France  drove  the  Hugue- 
nots out,  the  Great  Elector,  the  great  protector  of  the 
Reformed,  "  like  a  father  gathered  from  all  sides  the  flying 
children  of  his  Church,  and  like  a  mother  cared  for  them.'^ 
There  had  been  French  churches  in  Germany  before  the 
Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  (1685),*  but  they  had 
existed  as  isolated  churches. f  But  it  was  the  larger  immi- 
gration after  1685  that  greatly  increased  them  and  led 
them  to  organize  together.     Of  the  500,000  Huguenots 

*  For  there  were  really  four  immigrations  of  the  French  Reformed  into 
Germany.  The  first  was  about  1550,  when  the  Duke  of  Alva  so  severely  per- 
secuted the  Reformed  in  the  Netherlands,  The  second  was  after  the  Massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew  in  1572.  The  third  was  after  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes  in  1685,  and  the  fourth  was  about  1699,  when  many  Huguenots 
and  Waldenses  came  from  Switzerland  to  Germany,  because  Switzerland  was 
overcrowded  with  refugees. 

f  In  the  days  of  Calvin  there  were  French  churches  at  Strassburg,  founded 
1538,  Wesel  1544,  Emden  1554,  Frankford  on  the  Main  1554  (the  result  of 
the  Duke  of  Alva's  persecutions),  Frankenthal  1561,  Cleve  1568,  Duisburg 
1578,  Bremen  1578,  Hamburg  1578  (the  result  of  the  Massacre  of  St.  Barthol- 
omew). Other  churches  were  founded  at  Metz,  Aix  la  Chapelle,  Cologne,  Hei- 
delberg, Hanau  1595,  Annweiler  1595,  Manheim  1608,  Cassel  1616,  Bisch- 
weiler  1618,  Zweibriicken,  MUhlhausen  1661 — twenty  in  all. 


174  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

who  fled  from  France,  200,000  went  to  Holland,  200,000 
to  Switzerland  and  60,000  to  Germany.  One-third  of 
these  (20,000)  came  to  Brandenburg.  The  richest  of 
them  went  to  England  and  Holland,  and  the  poorer,  but 
most  progressive,  to  Brandenburg. 

Hardly  had  King  Louis  XIV.  issued  his  Edict  of  the 
Revocation  (October  22,  1685),  driving  out  the  Huguen- 
ots, than  seven  days  later  (October  29)  Elector  Frederick 
William  of  Brandenburg  issued  his  counter  edict  from 
Potsdam,  inviting  them  to  his  land.  The  answer  of  Pots- 
dam was  the  answer  of  Protestantism  to  Romanism,  the 
answer  of  toleration  to  persecution.  The  Elector  offered 
to  make  good  to  the  refugees  all  they  had  lost.  Did  Louis 
deprive  them  of  their  homes  and  forfeit  their  lands,  if 
they  fled  ?  He  offered  them  land  without  taxes  for  ten 
years,  and  unoccupied  houses  at  no  rent.  Did  Louis  for- 
bid them  from  worshipping  according  to  their  Reformed 
faith,  and  raze  their  churches  to  the  ground  ?  He  offered 
them  freedom  to  worship  such  as  they  had  had  in  France. 
Did  Louis  order  their  pastors  out  of  the  land  within  four- 
teen days,  or  they  would  be  sent  to  the  galleys,  and  if  not, 
fined  50  louis  d'ors  a  head  ?  He  gladly  received  their 
pastors,  believing  with  the  Huguenots,  "  the  more  pastors, 
the  more  blessing.''  He  received  thirty  of  their  600  pas- 
tors into  the  Mark  on  the  day  of  the  edict.  Did  Louis 
destroy  the  great  cathedral  of  the  Huguenots  at  Charen- 
ton,  near  Paris  (a  church  holding  8000  people)  ?     That 


LIBERALITY   OF   THE   GREAT   ELECTOR.  175 

temple  rose  phoenix-like  from  its  ashes  in  various  places 
in  Germany,  as  the  refugees  built  temples  modeled  after 
it.  Did  Louis  XIV.  crush  the  Reformed  church  at 
Metz  ?  It  rose  again  at  Berlin,  where  its  pastor,  Ancil- 
lon,  became  court  preacher,  and  most  of  its  members  (1130) 
gathered  around  him.  Did  the  Huguenots  lose  their  rank 
of  nobility  by  leaving  France  ?  He  gave  it  back  to  them, 
for  he  granted  them  the  same  rank  they  had  had  in  France. 
In  a  word,  all  they  lost  in  France  they  would  gain  in 
Brandenburg ;  yes,  more,  for  in  France  the  court  was 
against  them,  while  in  Brandenburg  the  royal  house  was 
their  helper  and  friend.  *  The  French  government  tried  in 
every  way  to  prevent  the  circulation  of  this  edict  through 
France,  but  the  Great  Elector  had  it  printed  in  French, 
and  it  spread  mysteriously,  but  very  rapidly,  through  that 
land.  This  circular  not  only  described  the  privileges  he 
offered  to  them,  but  also  the  places  where  they  could  get 
information  and  financial  aid,  as  Amsterdam,  Hamburg, 
Cologne  and  Frankford.  And  the  Great  Elector  not  only 
gave  them  what  he  had  promised,  but  raised  large  sums 
of  money  for  them.  It  is  true  he  did  not  raise  as  large  a 
sum  as  should  have  been  raised,  but  that  was  due  to  the 
indifference  and  opposition  of  many  of  his  Lutheran  sub- 

*  The  Great  Elector  also  defended  the  Reformed  in  other  ways.  As  Louis 
had  forbidden  the  Reformed  from  attending  their  own  worship  in  France, 
some  of  them  would  attend  the  service  of  Spanheim,  ambassador  of  Branden- 
burg, at  Paris.  This  Louis  forbade.  But  he  found  his  match  in  Frederick 
William,  who  then  forbade  his  Romish  subjects  from  attending  the  worship  of 
the  French  ambassador  at  Berlin. 


176  THE    KEFOKMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

jects.  In  four  years  he  gathered  13,980  thalers,  to  which 
he  added  from  his  own  treasury  15,200,  altogether  $7270. 
He  went  so  far  as  to  say,  "  I  must  sell  my  silver  vessels 
before  these  people  suffer  want  or  are  sent  away."  It  is 
said  that  their  support  for  the  first  few  years  required  over 
a  ton  of  gold  annually.  To  the  Huguenots  who  settled 
at  Magdeburg  he  presented  an  island  in  the  Elbe,  along 
with  26,252  crowns,  a  princely  gift  in  view  of  the  value 
of  money  then  and  the  proverbial  poverty  of  the  Electors 
of  Brandenburg. 

Thus  the  Great  Elector  gave  an  asylum  to  the  perse- 
cuted refugees.  He  found,  however,  that  like  Abraham 
he  was  entertaining  angels  unawares.  "  The  edict  was  a 
master-piece  of  political  sagacity,  for  it  filled  his  land  with 
the  best  people  of  Europe."  And  yet  the  Great  Elector's 
motive  was  not  a  selfish  aggrandizement.  His  aim  was 
not  to  enrich  himself  and  his  state  by  their  coming.  For 
above  the  wisdom  of  the  statesman  shone  the  self-denial  of 
•the  Christian.  He  issued  this  edict  not  out  of  policy,  but 
<of  pity,  for  he  did  not  expect,  neither  did  the  Huguenots, 
that  Germany  would  become  their  permanent  home.  They 
expected  that  after  the  storm  would  be  blown  over,  they 
would  be  allowed  to  return  to  France.  This  longing  of 
the  refugees  for  their  native  France  was  very  pathetic. 
Although  their  land  had  cast  them  off,  they  loved  it  still. 
In  their  correspondence  with  friends  in  France  they  would 
call  Germany  "  Babylon,"  the  place  of  their  exile,  where, 


HUGUENOTS    REMAIN   IN   GERMANY.  177 

like  the  Jews,  they  hung  their  harps  on  the  willows  and 
sighed  for  their  native  land.*  The  idea  that  they  would 
have  to  remain  permanently  in  Germany  did  not  dawn 
on  them  until  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
But  when  the  Peace  of  Kyswick  (1697)  and  the  succeed- 
ing Peace  of  Utrecht  (1713)  gave  them  no  hope  of  return- 
ing to  France,  they  began  to  settle  down  to  their  manifest 
destiny  and  remain  in  Germany.  And  yet  all  through 
the  negotiations  of  the  peace  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg 
(although  it  was  to  his  interest  to  keep  them)  did  every- 
thing he  could  that  they  might  get  back  to  their  native 
land.  But  Louis  XIV.  sent  a  thunder-clap  through  the 
Huguenot  world  by  declaring  :  '^  Nevermore.  They  must 
first  renounce  their  Reformed  faith,  or  they  never  return, 
and  their  wealth  remains  confiscated.''  So  Elector  Fred- 
erick III.  of  Brandenburg  finally  notified  the  French  con- 
sistories in  Brandenburg  in  1698  that  their  return  to 
France  had  been  unconditionally  refused,  and  issed  a 
naturalization  edict  for  them  in  1709,  by  which  they 
could  become  German  citizens. 

*  Some  touching  illustrations  of  their  expectation  to  return  to  France  are 
given.  A  rich  merchant  from  Chalons  presented  the  Huguenot  congregatiun 
at  Halle  with  a  silver  dish  and  three  cups  worth  66  thalers.  These  were  to  be 
kept  by  the  congregation  at  Halle  until  the  ehureh  at  Chalons  in  France  would 
he  revived,  when  they  were  to  be  sent  to  Chalons,  Again  at  the  Huguenot 
Synod  at  Wilhelmsdorf  in  Bavaria,  1690,  a  young  minister,  Durien,  lately 
released  from  the  galleys,  was  ordained.  And  although  they  had  no  charge 
in  prospect  for  him  in  Germany,  they  nevertheless  ordained  him,  expecting 
that  soon  a  charge  would  open  for  him  in  France  on  their  return. 


178  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Many  very  touching  and  beautiful  stories  are  told  of 
the  reception  of  these  French  refugees  by  the  Great  Elector 
and  his  family.  When  they  arrived  at  Berlin,  the  Elector 
honored  them  by  receiving  them  in  person,  and  not 
through  deputies.  When  Ancillon,  the  aged  pastor  of 
Metz,  came  with  his  whole  family,  the  Elector  embraced 
him — an  act  unheard  of  at  the  French  court,  where  the 
Huguenots  were  hated.  The  refugees  were  astonished  at 
such  a  welcome.  He  named  Ancillon  his  court  preacher, 
and  asked  Ancillon's  younger  son  what  he  expected  to  be. 
The  six  year  old  boy  replied  that  he  came  from  Geneva, 
where  he  had  studied  theology  two  years.  But  since  he 
had  heard  that  600  ministers  of  France  were  driven  out 
and  were  now  without  places,  he  felt  like  giving  up  the 
idea  of  becoming  a  minister  and  entering  the  army,  pro- 
vided the  Elector  was  willing.  Charmed  by  his  naive- 
ness,  the  Elector  replied,  "  No,  I  will  not  agree."  "  Do 
you  not  see  ?"  he  said  to  the  boy,  ^^  the  gray  hair  of  your 
father,  he  will  soon  need  your  help."  Ancillon  was  so 
charmed  by  the  amiability  of  the  Elector  that  he  com- 
pared him  to  another  Constantine  and  to  a  new  Theodo- 
sius,  having  '^  a  King's  soul  with  a  Priest's  spirit."  His 
son,  in  his  History  of  Brandenburg,  compares  the  Elector 
to  the  heroes  of  Plutarch. 

The  arrival  of  the  great  French  Marshal,  Schomberg, 
is  another  illustration.  The  French  ambassador  at  Ber- 
lin had  declared  to  the  Elector  that  these  Huguenots  were 


THE   GREAT    ELECTOR'S    KINDNESS.  179 

a  bad  and  troublesome  set — simply  adventurers  seeking 
fortune  somewhere  else — and  that  France  lost  nothing  by 
their  departure.  JYhen  Marshal  Schomberg  arrived,  the 
Elector  told  him  these  charges  against  the  Huguenots 
made  by  the  French  ambassador.  And  then  to  show  his 
opinion  of  them,  he  appointed  the  Marshal  the  General- 
in-Chief  of  his  army,  with  the  rank  next  to  the  Princes  of 
royal  blood.  The  Elector  delighted  to  have  them  come 
in  companies  of  from  six  to  thirty,  and  tell  him  the  sto- 
ries of  their  adventures  and  escapes.  He  strengthened 
them  in  their  faith,  kissed  them,  wept  with  them,  prayed 
with  them.  He  showed  them  many  favors.  The  French 
students  at  the  university  of  Frankford  on  the  Oder  ^^ur- 
sued  their  studies  at  his  expense.  He  threw  open  his 
library  to  them,  that  their  learned  men  might  continue 
their  studies'.  He  encouraged  them  in  their  various  trades 
by  financial  aid.  As  a  stimulus  he  gave  one  hundred 
thalers  for  the  first  pa  r  of  silk  stockings  made  in  his 
land,  because  that  was  a  new  industry. 

But  the  Great  Elector  was  only  permitted  to  live  three 
brief  years  after  their  coming  (he  died  May  9,  1688),  and 
was  not  able  to  carry  out  his  large  plans  concerning  them. 
At  his  death,  after  having  blessed  his  own  family,  he  then 
said  to  his  son  and  successor :  ^'  I  have  still  another  fam- 
ily— an  adopted  one,  but  no  less  dearer  than  the  one  of 
which  nature  has  made  me  father.  It  is  the  great  family 
of  the  refugees.''     His  son  continued  the  policy  of  the 


180  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

father  and  added  five  years'  freedom  from  taxes  to  the  ten 
granted  by  his  father,  and  also  issued  the  naturalization 
edict  by  which  they  could  become  German  citizens.  As 
the  result  of  this  immigration  (including  the  later  immi- 
gration of  Waldenses  at  the  close  of  the  century)  twenty 
thousand  came  into  Brandenburg.  There  were  fifty-nine 
colonies  founded.  Of  these  eleven  still  remain.*  Thus 
in  a  land  where  there  had  been  only  three  Reformed 
churches  before,  there  were  now  added  20,000  Reformed 
and  59  churches.  It  may  be  said  that  the  Elector  founded 
an  eastern  Reformed  Church  in  his  realm  (where  before 
the  Reformed  Church  had  existed  only  as  individuals  or 
in  small  bodies.)  He  now  had  a  large  eastern  Reformed 
Church  in  his  territory,  as  he  had  a  large  western  Re- 
formed Church  in  his  provinces  along  the  Rhine. 

*  Angermunde,  Bergholz,  Bernau,  Gross  and  Klein  Zieth^n,   Konigsburg, 
Magdeburg,  Potsdam,  Stettin,  Strassburg  in  the  Ukernark. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  II. 

THE  FRENCH  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  BERLIN. 

There  bad  beeu  a  French  colony  in  Berlin  before  1685. 
Their  first  service  had  been  held  July  10,  1672.  After 
the  Revocation,  the  colony  greatly  increased,  from  three 
hundred  to  five  thousand.  The  Elector,  to  accommodate 
them,  gave  them  his  cathedral  where  they  held  their  first 
service,  May  6,  1688.  "When  the  Werder  and  Friederichs- 
stadt  churches  were  built,  they  also  held  service  in  them. 
They  had  not  yet  built  their  own  church,  partly  because 
of  their  poverty,  and  partly  because  they  expected  to 
return  to  France.  But  when  that  hope  was  taken  away 
by  the  peace  of  Ryswick,  they  began  to  build  a  temple.* 
Their  consistory  was  organized  1701.  They  employed 
Cayard,  the  architect,  who  built  the  Long  Bridge  over  the 
Spree,  at  Berlin,  and  some  of  the  Prussian  fortresses,  to 
build  their  church.  It  was  modeled  after  the  Reformed 
church  at  Charenton,  near  Paris,  which  Louis  XIV.  had 
razed  to  the  ground  on  the  day  of  the  Revocation,  only  it 
Avas  smaller.  It  was  dedicated,  March  1,  1705.  It  is 
called  the  French  cathedral,   because  it  was  the  church 

■*  For  in  France,  all  Protestant  churches  were  called  temples,  as  they  were 
not  allowed  by  the  Romish  government  to  call  them  churches. 


182  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

where  the  royal  family  and  the  French  nobility  worshipped. 
Other  churches  were  built,  as  the  Kopenick  1729,  the 
hospital  chapel  1733,  the  cloister  1726.  Some  of  the 
refugees  were  given  a  suburb,  Moabit,  a  sandy  plain  along 
the  river  Spree.  But  with  their  knowledge  of  landscape 
gardening,  they  soon  changed  that  waste  into  a  paradise. 
Here  they  also  built  a  church,  the  only  church  to-day  in 
that  district.  As  the  result  of  this  immigration,  the  colony 
grew,  until  in  1703  one-seventh  of  the  population  of  the 
city  was  Reformed  (5,689  out  of  37,000).  The  Elector 
founded  a  gymnasium  for  them,  December  1,  1689, 
modeled  after  the  gymnasia  of  Sedan  and  Saumur,  which 
the  French  government  had  closed.  This  gymnasium 
also  gave  the  Germans  a  chance  to  learn  French,  which 
they  were  quick  to  take  advantage  of.  At  first  there  were 
too  many  French  ministers,  because  so  many  had  been 
driven  out  of  France.  •  But  in  the  next  generation  there 
were  too  few,  because  there  was  no  place  where  they  could 
be  educated.  So  Frederick  the  Great  founded  a  theolog- 
ical seminary  in  connection  with  the  gymnasium,  July  5, 
1770.  It  seems  strange  that  so  skeptical  a  King  would 
found  a  theological  seminary,  and  it  is  probable  that  this 
is  the  only  religious  act  he  did  to  perpetuate  Christianity. 
But  his  love  for  the  French  led  him  to  do  it.  This  semi- 
nary had  room  for  six  students,  of  whom  three  Avere  edu- 
cated free.  This  theological  seminary  (though  closed  from 
1808  to  1811)  had  educated  up  to  1885,  one  hundred  and 
forty-two  ministers  for  the  French  churches  of  Germany. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  III. 
THE  FRENCH  REFORMED  CHURCHES  OF  MAGDEBURG. 
Next  to  Berlin,  the  most  important  colony  was  at 
Magdeburg.  The  awful  "  Sack  of  Magdeburg,"  in  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  had  reduced  this  flourishing  city  to 
ashes,  except  two  churches  and  a  few  houses,  and  the 
population  of  35,000  had  gone  down  to  1,100.  Although 
half  a  century  had  passed,  the  city  had  not  yet  recovered 
from  this.*  Here  then  was  ample  room  for  many  refugees. 
And  so  the  Elector  thought,  but  difficulties  arose.  The 
town  since  the  days  of  the  Reformation  had  been  the  citadel 
of  high  Lutheranism.  Its  inhabitants  therefore  did  not 
want  any  Reformed  among  them,  because  they  considered 
them  as  heretics.  Here  the  Formula  of  Concord  had  been 
written  which  condemned  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformed. 
But  in  spite  of  these  prejudices,  even  before  the  Huguenots 
came,  there  had  been  a  German  Reformed  church  organ- 
ized October  26,  1666,  at  the  house  of  the  commander  of 
the  fort,  whose  wife  was  an  Anhalt  princess,  who  brought 
her  Reformed   minister,  Duncker,  with  her.     But  when 

*  In  1681  the  plague  came  and  carried  oflf  one-third  of  the  inhabitants,  and 
in  1683  there  were  113  empty  houses,  together  with  434  houses  in  ruins.  In 
1686  the  population  was  only  5,155.  To  have  restored  the  city  to  its  former 
magnificence,  it  would  have  required  30,000  Huguenots. 


1S4  THE    EEFORMEP    CHURCH    OF   GEEMAXY. 

the  commaudauT  went  away  ou  aocoimt  of  the  plague,  he 
took  his  Reformed  minister  away  with  him.  Still  there 
remained  a  congregation  of  about  60.  most  of  them  soldiers. 
They  were  accustomed  to  worship  in  pleasant  weather,  in 
the  windowless,  floorless,  doorless  Gangolphs  chapel.  In 
1681,  Thulemeyer,  one  of  the  Elector's  court  preachers, 
was  appointed  to  be  pastor.  This  German  organization 
was  afterwards  greatly  increased  by  the  Palatines,  who 
came  to  Magdeburg. 

The  French  cono:re2:ation  was  founded  bv  the  refuo^ees. 
On  the  third  day  of  Christmas.  1685,  a  strange  and  sad 
sight  was  seen  in  the  streets  of  Magdeburg.  Fifty  French- 
men, half  naked  and  cold,  came  wandering  through  the 
streets,  and  were  ridiculed  by  the  inhabitants,  who  hated 
them  because  they  were  Calvinists.  Then  the  refugees 
began  passing  through  in  companies  singing  their  Psalms. 
They  would  often  stop  to  rest  there,  and  while  stopping 
would  gather  around  one  of  their  number,  who  would  read 
the  Bible  to  them.  They  would  then  tall  on  their  knees 
in  prayer — a  very  strange  sight  to  the  inhabitants  of  Xorth 
Germany,  who  looked  on  kneeling  in  prayer  as  a  relic  of 
Romanism.* 

The  Elector  immediately  after  the  edict  of  Potsdam 
sent  to  Magdeburg  inquiring  how  many  houses  were 
available.     But  he  received  no  answer  from  the  Lutheran 

^  In  the   French   Reformed   Church,  kneeling   was  the  usual  attitude  in 
prayer. 


OPPOSITION    TO    THE    HUGUENOTS.  185 

inhabitants,  who  did  not  want  the  Reformed  there.     He 
then  asked  what  churches  could  be  used  by  the  Reformed. 
The  only  reply  he  received  was,  that  all  the  churches  not 
in   use  were  too   ruined  to  be  used.     The  Elector  then 
sharpened  his  demands  on  them,  February  23,   1686,  but 
still    no   answer   came.     Meanwhile   the   refugees  began 
arriving  in   response  to  the  Elector's  invitation,  and  in 
passing    through    Magdeburg   (15,000   of    them    passed 
through   Magdeburg  on  their  way  to  Berlin),  many  of 
them  stopped  and  settled  there.     In  order  to  provide  them 
with  a  place  of  Avorship,   the  Elector  wanted  the  unused 
Gertrude  chapel  to  be  given  to  them.     It  had  been  used 
as  a  hospital  during  the  plague,  and  was  still  called  the 
Asses  church  bv  the  inhabitants.     But  althouo^h  the  Luth- 
eran  inhabitants  had  no  use  for  it,  they  objected ;  and  to 
entirely  prevent  the  Reformed  from  using  it,   the  church 
of  St.   John   the    Evangelist,  as  patron  of  the  hospital, 
claimed  it  as  their  property,  which  the  Elector  could  not 
legally  separate   from  them.      There  were  at  least  nine 
empty  churches  there,  but  it  seemed  as  if  not  one  of  them 
was  to  be  used  by  the  Reformed.     There  was  plenty  of 
room  in  the  town  for  them,  but  not  in   the  hearts  of  the 
citizens.      But  the  Elector  went  ahead.     He  appointed 
Du  Cros  pastor  of  the  French  church,  aud  the  first  service 
was  held,  June  27,  1686.     After  waiting  till  Xoveml)er  7, 
1686,  for  the  town  to  give  the  Reformed  a  church,  which 
was  not    in   use,  he  ordered  the   Gertrude  chapel  to  be 
13 


186  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

given  to  them,  until  the  Magdalene  chapel  could  be  fitted 
up  for  them.  There  they  worshipped  30  years.  In  this 
unhealthy  chapel,  which  had  been  a  plague  hospital,  and 
had  not  been  thoroughly  disinfected,  they  worshipped. 
And  as  the  Lutherans  would  not  allow  them  to  bury  their 
dead  in  the  town  cemetery,  they  had  to  bury  in  the  floor 
of  the  church.*  No  wonder  that  there  was  great  mor- 
tality among  the  refugees  there.  The  corner-stone  of 
their  church  was  laid  August  6,  1705.  Like  the  temples 
at  Erlangen  and  Halberstadt,  it  was  patterned  after  the 
eight-cornered  church  at  Montauban,  France. f  It  was 
dedicated  1710,  the  most  beautiful  church  in  the  town. 
It  was  burned  1804,  and  rebuilt  much  smaller,  but  after 
the  same  style. 

In  1689  there  came  a  remarkable  colony  to  Magdeburg. 
The  refugees  generally  came  singly  or  in  groups  of  fam- 
ilies. But  here  a  whole  congregation  as  an  organization 
came,  bringing  minister,  elders,  singer,  doctor,  everything. 
They  came  from  Manheim  in  the  Palatinate,  whither  their 
ancestors  had  fled  in  the  previous  century  from  the  perse- 
cutions of  the  Duke  of  Alva,  in  the  Netherlands.  And 
now  that  the  Palatinate  was  ravaged  by  French  armies, 
rather  than  give  up  the  faith  for  which  their  fathers  had 
fled,  they  too  determined  to  flee  to  a  safer  asylum.     They 

"■•■  Ten  years  later  they  succeeded  in  getting  a  graveyard  of  their  own. 

f  The  pulpit  was  on  one  side,  with  the  communion  table  (no  altar)  in  the 
middle  in  front  of  it,  and  its  benches  were  arranged  in  four  sections,  so  that 
all  could  see  the  pulpit. 


THE    HUGUENOTS    IN    MAGDEBURG.  187 

held  their  last  service  in  Manheim,  ^larch  6,  1689.  It 
was  high  time  they  left,  for  two  days  later  the  French 
were  in  the  town  destroying  everything,  until  nothing  was 
left  but  the  stones  on  which  the  town  was  built.  The 
refugees  went  to  Hanau  and  Frankford.  And  hearing 
that  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  was  so  favorable  to  the 
refugees,  they  sent  a  delegation  to  him.  He  granted  their 
request  for  an  asylum,  and  by  the  beginning  of  July,  1689, 
the  greater  part  of  the  congregation  had  arrived.  The 
Lutheran  inhabitants  of  Magdeburg  looked  with  increas- 
ing anxiety  on  this  new  colony  of  Reformed,  and  strug- 
gled against  giving  them  a  church,  although  so  many 
churches  were  not  used.  These  Walloons  held  their  first 
service  January  31,  1689.  The  Augustinian  church  (their 
present  church)  was  given  to  them  December  2,  1694. 
Thus  three  Reformed  churches  were  founded  in  Magde- 
burg— a  German,  French  and  Walloon.  To  the  5155 
Lutheran  inhabitants  of  the  town  there  were  added  1500 
Huguenots,  2000  Walloons  and  400  Palatines,  a  total  of 
about  4000,  so  they  almost  equalled  the  original  Lutheran 
population.  It  seems  a  strange  revenge  of  history  that 
in  the  very  city  from  one  of  whose  cloisters  had  been 
issued  the  Formula  of  Concord,  which  condemned  the 
teachings  of  the  Reformed,  these  refugees  were  to  find  a 
refuge  and  build  powerful  churches.  They  built  up 
whole  districts  of  the  town,  as  Peter  Street  and  the  French 
Island. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  lY. 

THE  FRENCH  CHURCH   OF   HALLE. 

This  colony  was  not  as  large  as  the  preceding  ones, 
but  was  important  because  of  its  influence  and  wealth. 
There  is  a  strange  revenge  of  history  about  their  coming 
here,  as  there  was  at  Magdeburg.  It  is  significant  that  at 
Halle,  where  Elector  John  Sigismund  of  Brandenburg 
had  taken  his  oath  never  to  leave  the  Lutheran  faith,  and 
where  his  father's  court  preacher,  called  the  Reformed 
^^  Mamelukes,''  /there  should  be  founded  a  colony  of 
French  Reformed.  And  it  is  still  more  significant  that 
in  the  very  building,  the  Moritzburg,  where  John  Sigis- 
mund had  taken  his  oath  against  the  Reformed,  the  French 
Reformed  should  find  their  first  place  of  worship.  Al- 
most as  soon  as  Halle  came  into  the  hands  of  the  Elector 
of  Brandenburg,  he  introduced  Reformed  services  in  Ger- 
man there.  Bergius,  the  Reformed  court  preacher, 
preached  there  whenever  the  Elector  was  in  Halle.  The 
French  service  began  with  the  coming  of  the  refugees. 
After  the  Revocation,  the  Elector  sent  to  Halle  to  find  out 
how  many  houses  were  vacant,  how  many  boarding  places 
could  be  obtained,  and  whether  the  Huguenots  could 
have  the  use  of  a  church.     But  these  requests  Avere   very 


THE    HUGUENOTS    IN   HALLE.  189 

coolly  received  by  that  Lutheran  city,  which  did  not  want 
a  Reformed  colony  in  their  midst. 

The  refugees  began  coming  in  1686.  In  the  Moritz- 
burg  castle  (which  had  been  largely  destroyed  during  the 
Thirty  Years'  War)  there  was  a  house  between  the  ruins 
used  as  a  hunting  castle.  Here  they  held  their  first  ser- 
vice November  14,  1686,  under  pastor  Yimielle.  They 
were  the  first  of  all  the  refugee  churches  in  Brandenburg 
to  celebrate  their  communion,  December  26.  Until  the 
Magdalene  chapel  in  the  Moritzburg  could  be  restored, 
the  Elector  threw  open  to  them  the  cathedral  May  29, 
1688.*  They  worshipped  there  for  two  years  until 
October  26,  1690,  when  the  Magdalene  chapel  was  ready 
for  them.  But  the  inhabitants  of  Halle  treated  them  very 
unkindly.  At  Easter,  1687,  when  their  rents  for  lodgings 
ran  out,  the  owners  declared  that  they  would  not  rent  any 
more  to  them.  They  thus  hoped  to  get  rid  of  the  refu- 
gees. The  French  women,  children  and  servants,  were 
sometimes  insulted  on  the  streets.  Rotten  fruit  was 
thrown  at  them  when  they  went  to  market,  and  stones  some- 
times thrown  through  the  windows  of  their  homes.  The 
Elector  hearing  of  these  things,  issued  a  severe  edict  Sep- 
tember 3,  1689,  stating  that  if  the  inhabitants  had  any 
complaints  against  the  foreigners,  they  must  bring  charges 

*  They  used  this  in  common  with  the  German  Reformed  and  Lutherans. 
The  hours  of  Sabbath  service  were  parcelled  out  thus:  The  French,  7  to  9  A. 
M.;  Gernlan  Reformed,  9  to  11a.  m.  ;  Lutherans,  3  to  4  p.  M.;  French,  4  to 
6  p.  M. 


190  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

before  the  courtSj  but  these  brutalities  must  cease.  The 
people  also  annoyed  the  French  at  their  religious  services. 
As  the  French  had  to  go  through  the  two  front  rooms  in 
the  Moritzburg,  so  as  to  reach  the  Magdalene  chapel,  the 
Germans  placed  beer  in  those  rooms.  And  on  Sunday 
morning,  contrary  to  the  Elector's  order,  they  smoked 
tobacco,  rolled  ten  pins  and  had  music,  which  greatly  dis- 
turbed the  devotions  of  the  French.  In  1695  there 
appeared  a  catechism  purporting  to  be  Reformed,  but 
which  was  in  reality  a  caricature.  It  was  composed  of 
insidious,  extravagant  questions,  to  which  were  given 
answers  made  up  of  mutilated  extracts  from  Reformed 
writers.  It  grossly  misrepresented  the  Reformed  doc- 
trines. The  Elector  issued  an  edict  against  that  catechism 
in  1695,  and  fined  those  in  whose  hands  it  was  to  he 
found  ;  yes  (after  the  custom  of  the  time)  he  even  burned 
it  at  the  gallows  in  Halle,  and  Coelln  at  Berlin.* 

This  colony  of  the  Reformed  becomes  all  the  more  inter- 
esting because  it  laid  the  foundations  of  the  University  of 
Halle.  That  university  was  the  outgrowth  of  the  French 
Knights  Academy,  founded  there  by  DeFleur  in   1680. 

*  The  German  Reformed  church  of  Halle  was  founded  April,  1688,  with 
Reith,  from  Frankenthal  in  the  Palatinate,  as  pastor.  There  he  had  been 
thrown  into  prison  for  preaching  on  the  eightieth  answer  of  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism.  He  was  then  permitted  to  leave  prison,  but  had  a  body  guard 
of  three  soldiers  continually  with  him.  Finally  he  was  dismissed  from  the 
land.  The  tale  of  his  suflferings  touched  the  Elector  who  appointed  him  pastor 
at  Halle.  His  appointment  was  the  last  act  of  the  Great  Elector  before  he 
died.  This  congregation  grew  very  fast  through  the  large  immigration  of 
Palatines  from  their  persecuted  land  during  the  years  1688-93. 


THE   HUGUENOTS   IN   HALLE.  191 

It  soon  had  an  attendance  that  put  even  the  universities 
to  shame.  Thus  Duisburg  had  only  24  students  in  1703, 
while  this  academy  had  700.  When  Elector  Frederick 
III.  gave  the  Lutheran  Pietists  a  home  in  his  land  after 
they  were  driven  out  of  Saxony,  he  determined  to  found  a 
university  for  them.  He  therefore  dissolved  the  French 
Academy  of  La  Fleur,  and  founded  the  university  in 
1694,  which,  although  a  Lutheran  university,  had  31 
endowed  scholarships  for  Reformed  students.  The  French 
pastor,  Augier,  was  one  of  the  first  professors  at  the  uni- 
versity. The  King  went  farther  than  that,  and  appointed 
a  Reformed  professor  of  theology,  who  was  not  only  a 
teacher  in  the  gymnasium,  but  a  professor  in  the  univer- 
sity. This  led  to  bickering,  as  the  Lutheran  faculty  did 
not  want  a  Reformed  professor  of  theology  recognized  in 
their  lists.  Still  there  were  two  Reformed  professors  of 
theology  here  from  1710  to  1804,  when  Schleiermacher 
was  the  last.  Meanwhile  the  French  congregation 
decreased,  while  the  German  increased.  And  when  Jerome 
Napoleon  came,  he  united  the  two  congregations,  June  9, 
1800,  in  the  cathedral,  while  the  old  French  church  he 
used  as  a  stable  for  his  army. 

AVhile  describing  Halle  we  must  not  forget  to  describe 
a  branch  of  that  congregation,  although  in  Saxony.  Even 
bigoted  Saxony,  which  had  imprisoned  Fencer  for  twelve 
years  at  Leipsic  and  then  driven  him  out,  and  had  afterwards 
beheaded  Chancellor  Crell,  because  they  were  suspected 


192  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

of  being  secret  Calvinists,  was  now  destined  to  receive 
Calvinists,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  to  them  from  the 
Lutheran  inhabitants.  For  fifty  years  it  remained  closed 
to  them.  But  during  the  Thirty  Years'  War  a  Keformed 
communion  had  been  celebrated  at  Leipsic.  The  Swedish 
Colonel,  Douglass,  had  the  superintendent  of  the  Anhalt 
Reformed  church  come  to  Leipsic  and  hold  a  series  of 
services,  and  then  administer  the  communion  to  him  and 
the  Reformed  soldiers  in  the  army.  Afterwards  the  Re- 
formed Countess  of  Anhalt  would  occasionally  have  pri- 
vate Reformed  service  when  she  was  staying  there.  But 
it  was  not  -tmtil  a  half  century  later,  when  the  French 
came,  that  a  congregation  was  organized.  Leipsic  had 
become  famous  for  its  fairs  and  markets,  and  the  French 
of  Halle  soon  came  to  Leipsic  with  their  goods  and  wares. 
As  they  were  not  allowed  to  hold  service  at  Leipsic,  they 
would  keep  up  their  membership  at  Halle,  by  attending 
the  communion.  The  law  of  Saxony  had  prohibited  any 
religion  but  the  Lutheran.  But  an  unexpected  event 
aided  the  Reformed.  The  King  of  Saxony  became  a  Ro- 
manist, and  in  his  anxiety  to  gain  religious  liberty  for  the 
Romanists,  he  with  his  chancellor,  Beichlingen,  befriended 
the  Reformed.  They  began  their  services  in  1702,  in  the 
private  house  of  the  banker  Le  Clerc.  But  on  November 
5  they  were  allowed  by  the  government  to  have  their 
service  in  the  court  house,  for  which  however  they  were 


THE    HUGUENOTS    IN    LEIPSIC.  193 

compelled  to  pay  an  enormous  rent.*  The  Reformed  on 
the  other  hand  tried  in  every  way  to  lessen  the  prejudices 
against  them.  They  observed  the  Centennial  of  Luther  in 
1617,  raised  collections  for  the  poor  of  Leipsic,  also  funds 
for  the  first  Lutheran  church  in  the  Palatinate.  Still  the 
inhabitants  looked  on  them  with  a  suspicious  eye,  espe- 
cially as  many  of  the  students  of  the  university  would 
attend  French  service,  and  it  became  quite  fashionable  for 
Germans  to  go  to  the  French  church.  When  the  ministry 
of  Beichlingen  was  overthrown,  they  were  forbidden  to 
hold  service  in  the  city.  They  then  went  to  a  suburb, 
"Volkmarsdorf,  east  of  the  town.  But  this  was  too  far 
away.  They  were  finally  allowed  by  the  edict  of  the 
King  to  go  back  to  the  court  house  again.  Their  first 
service  in  their  own  church  building  was  held  in  1719. 
The  German  Reformed  people  in  the  town  joined  with 
them,  and  a  German  service  was  held  for  them.  The 
latter  congregation  afterwards  became  famous  through  the 
eloquence  of  Zollikofer,  the  famous  pulpit  orator  of  the 
last  century  in  Germany. 

*  This  was  located  near  the  St.  Thomas'  church,  and  some  of  their  enemies 
charged  Beichlingen  with  permitting  "a  fool's  theatre  there." 


CHAPTER  III. 
FRENCH  REFORMED  IN  OTHER  PARTS  OF  GERMANY. 
Brandenburg  was  not  the  only  state  that  received  the 
Reformed  refugees.  Two-thirds  of  those  who  settled  in 
Germany,  settled  in  other  states.  The  Reformed  Princes 
and  cities  gladly  welcomed  their  persecuted  brethren  in 
the  faith.  And  even  some  Lutheran  Princes,  influenced 
by  Reformed  relatives,  received  Huguenot  colonies  into 
their  dominions,  sometimes  even  against  the  wishes  of 
their  Lutheran  ministers  and  people. 

SECTION  I. 

HESSE-CASSEL. 

Next  to  Brandenburg  the  most  important  colony  was 
the  Hessian,  where  in  all  twenty  thousand  settled.  Three 
of  the  Hessian  Princes  offered  them  an  asylum — the  Land- 
graves of  Cassel,  Homburg  and  Darmstadt.  Landgrave 
Charles  of  Hesse-Cassel  was  one  of  the  keenest  statesmen 
of  his  age.  He  it  was  who  brought  Cassel  up  to  its  high- 
est point  of  military  glory.*     With  the  eye  of  a  statesman 

*  This  military  tendency  continued  until  the  Seven  Years'  War,  when 
Landgrave  Frederick  II.  brought  its  army  up  to  20,000  men.  When  that  war 
was  over,  as  he  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  his  splendid  soldiers,  trained 
under  Frederick  the  Great,  he  began  farming  them  out  to   other  lands.     And 


THE    HUGUEXOTS    IN   CASSEL.  195 

he  saw  the  advantage  of  receiving  such  excellent  citizens 
as  the  Huguenots.  He  even  outdid  the  Elector  of  Bran- 
denburg. For  six  months  before  the  latter  issued  his 
famous  Edict  of  Potsdam,  he  issued,  April  18,  1685,  an 
edict  inviting  all  refugees  to  his  land,  offering  them  free- 
dom from  taxes  for  ten  years.  He  was  the  first  German 
Prince  to  do  this,  and  soon  the  refugees  began  to  come. 
On  the  28th  of  October  (the  day  before  the  Elector  of 
Brandenburg  issued  his  edict)  the  first  French  service  was 
held  at  Cassel.  The  Landgrave  renewed  his  edict,  Decem- 
ber 12,  1685,  and  the  number  of  refugees  increased  until 
6000  had  arrived,  of  whom  150  were  of  noble  birth. 
After  the  Peace  of  Ryswick  closed  France  against  their 
return,  14,000  more  came,  including  some  Waldenses. 
Thirty  colonies  were  formed  outside  of  Cassel.  The  refu- 
gees at  Cassel  built  up  the  new  part  of  the  city  and  there 
laid  the  corner-stone  of  their  church,  August  3,  1698, 
which  was  finished  February  12,  ITlO.f 

The  beautiful  city  of  Cassel  owes  much  of  its  present 
beauty  to  the  refugees.  For  among  them  was  a  famous 
architect,  John  Paul  Du  Roy.  His  experiences  are  typi- 
cal of  the  sufferings  of  many.     His  father  had  been  archi- 

thus  the  shameful  hiring  of  the  Hessians  during  the  Revolutionary  War  came 
to'pass,  when  16,992  Hessians  were  sent  to  America,  of  whom  10,492  returned 
to  Hesse.  But  Landgrave  Charles  must  not  be  held  responsible  for  the  mis- 
doings of  his  Romish  successor. 

t  It  is  still  located  in  the  small  Carl  Square,  in  which  is  a  statue  of  the 
Landgrave  Charles.  Since  the  walls  of  the  old  city  have  been  taken  down, 
the  old  and  new  city  have  been  thrown  into  one. 


196  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

tect  to  the  King  of  France.  After  the  revocation,  his 
mother,  a  widow,  tried  to  flee  with  her  twelve  children. 
Ten  of  them  succeeded  in  escaping  to  foreign  lands  safely, 
but  his  mother  and  the  two  daughters  were  captured  and 
cast  into  prison — the  oldest  daughter  was  cast  into  the 
prison  of  Montreuil,  where  she  escaped  further  indignities 
by  becoming  a  Romanist ;  the  younger  daughter  was  cast 
into  a  damp  prison,  from  which  she  became  deaf,  but  she 
resisted  all  attempts  to  pervert  her  to  the  Romish  faith. 
Finally  they  were  all  liberated  and  went  to  the  rest  of  the 
family  in  Holland.  John  Paul  Du  Roy  had  been  a  sol- 
dier in  the  Dutch  army,  and  fled  to  Holland  after  the 
Revocation.  But  Landgrave  Charles  asked  William  of 
Orange  to  send  him  a  fine  architect,  and  so  Roy  was  sent 
to  Cassel,  arriving  there  October  1,  1685.  He  built  the 
new  city  of  Cassel,  the  Orangerie,  the  Auegarden  and  the 
fort  at  Rheinfels,  and  laid  out  and  built  the  French  colo- 
nies of  Carlsdorf  and  Mariendorf.  After  his  death  his 
son  Charles  kept  up  the  fame  of  the  family  for  architect- 
ure. He  completed  the  new  city  of  Cassel,  the  picture 
gallery,  the  great  glass  house  in  the  Orangerie,  and  also 
began  the  castle  at  Wilhelmsthal  by  erecting  its  wing. 
He  married  a  lady  named  Anna  Girard,  whose  father  had 
died  in  the  flight  from  France,  and  her  mother  with  the 
children  were  imprisoned.  From  the  prison  the  children 
were  taken  to  a  cloister.  There  the  nuns  used  to  take  the 
children  out  walking  daily.     One  day,  as  they  were  pass- 


THE   HUGUENOTS   IN    HESSE.  197 

ing  a  pastry-baker's  shop,  he  asked  the  nuns  that  they 
might  be  brought  in.  Then  he  took  off  their  shoes  and 
stockings.  He  turned  to  his  wife,  saying,  "  See  how  our 
priests  deceive  us.  They  say  that  the  Huguenot  children 
have  horse's  feet,  but  these  have  feet  like  ours."  The 
children  were  afterwards  permitted  to  leave  France,  and 
Anna  went  to  Cassel.  After  Charles  Du  Roy's  death,  his 
son  Simon  still  kept  up  the  fame  of  the  family.  He  built 
the  Koch  pavilion  in  the  Orangerie,  the  museum  and  the 
colonnade  in  the  Parade  place,  the  French  hospital  and 
the  city  hall,  the  Carls  aue  or  Aue.  The  beautiful  park 
of  Cassel  was  laid  out  by  La  Notre,  the  French  landscape 
gardener,  in  1719.  The  marble  bath  in  the  Orangerie 
was  erected,  1728,  by  Monnot,  the  French  sculptor. 
Landgrave  Charles  began  to  lay  out  the  beautiful  park  of 
Wilhelmshoehe,  so  famous  for  its  beauty. 

But  even  more  interesting,  though  not  so  large,  was 
the  colony  near  Homburg,  a  few  miles  north  of  Frankford 
on  the  Main.  The  Landgrave  of  Hesse  Homburg,  Fred- 
erick II.  (he  "  of  the  silver  leg,"  having  lost  it  through  a 
Avound  in  the  battle  of  Copenhagen),  received  tAvo  colonies 
at  Frederichsdorf  and  Dornholzhausen.  They  became 
unique  colonies,  for  they  are  philological  curiosities. 
Although  more  than  200  years  ha\^e  passed  since  they 
Avere  founded,  yet  they  are  still  French,  although  sur- 
rounded by  Germans — a  French  island  in  the  German 
ocean.      Frederichsdorf  has   to-day    its    French    church, 


198  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH   OF    GERMANY. 

school  and  mayor.  The  reason  why  they  have  remained 
French  so  long  has  been,  because  the  Landgrave,  in  1731, 
forbade  any  Germans  from  intermarrying  with  them,  or 
living  in  the  town.  And  to  make  their  condition  still 
more  remarkable,  they  speak  not  the  French  of  to-day, 
but  the  French  of  the  time  of  their  immigration — the 
French  of  two  centuries  ago — because  communication  with 
their  fatherland  was  cut  off.  While  the  French  language 
changed  and  improved  in  course  of  time,  theirs  did  not. 
Nowhere  in  France  to-day  is  there  to  be  found  a  place 
where  the  French  of  the  time  of  Louis  XIV.  is  spoken. 
The  philologist  must  go  to  Germany  to  hear  it  at  Freder- 
ichsdorf.  The  town  still  contains  about  800  inhabitants, 
but  since  it  has  come  under  the  control  of  Prussia,  the 
German  language  is  slowly  creeping  in. 


CHAPTER  III.— SECTION  11. 

ERLANGEN  AND  NEIGHBORING  COLONIES. 

Margrave  Christian  Ernst  of  Brandeuburg-Baireuth, 
in  Southern  Germany,  was  a  Lutheran.  Yet,  influenced 
by  his  near  relative  and  former  guardian,  the  Elector  of 
Brandenburg,  he  issued  an  edict,  December,  1685, 
(although  his  Lutheran  consistory  bitterly  opposed  it), 
offering  an  asylum  to  the  Huguenots,  with  freedom  from 
taxes  for  fifteen  years,  and  also  freedom  for  their 
Reformed  worship.  The  village  of  Erlangen  had  been  so 
terribly  devastated  by  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  that  for 
five  years  it  was  an  uninhabitable  heap  of  ruins.  In 
1685  it  had  only  500  inhabitants.  So  the  Margrave 
assigned  the  Huguenots  to  that  place,  hoping  they  would 
rebuild  it.  In  this  his  expectations  were  more  than  real- 
ized. For  the  French  colony  built  the  new  part  of  the 
city,  which  they  named  Christian  Erlangen,  after  the 
Margrave.  The  first  refugees  arrived  on  May  17,  1686, 
and  within  two  years  1600  had  arrived.  They  at  once 
had  worship,  for  that  was  the  first  thing  a  Huguenot 
thought  of.  They  at  once  began  to  lay  out  the  new  city 
of  Erlangen,  and  the  first  building  was  the  corner-stone 
of  their  church,  laid  July   14,  1686.     At  3  P.  M.,  with 


200     THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

the  pastor,  Papon,  they  went  to  the  new  city,  where  all 
fell  on  their  knees  on  the  ground,  as  they  thanked  God 
for  His  grace  in  saving  them  through  the  persecutions. 
Many  of  his  congregation  were  melted  to  tears.  This 
church  was  dedicated  in  the  presence  of  the  Margrave  and 
his  wife,  February  26,  1693.  It  was  modeled  after  the 
church  at  Montauban,  France.  But  although  the  Mar- 
grave thus  welcomed  the  refugees,  his  people  did  not. 
There  were  two  reasons  for  this — the  first  was  the  forced 
quartering  of  the  refugees  on  the  inhabitants.  Quarter- 
ing at  best  is  not  pleasant,  and  was  even  dangerous  to 
health,  for  sometimes  from  six  to  twenty  were  quartered 
in  a  single  family.  The  inhabitants  charged  the  French 
with  not  being  cleanly — that  they  polluted  the  springs 
and  were  careless  about  fire.  This  latter  charge  may  have 
had  some  truth  in  it,  for  in  southern  France,  from  which 
most  of  the  refugees  came,  they  were  accustomed  to  stone 
houses,  and  were  not  so  careful  about  fire  as  the  people  of 
Erlangen,  who  lived  in  wooden  houses.  But  back  of  all 
this  there  was  a  second  reason.  The  inhabitants  were 
Lutherans,  and  they  did  not  want  the  Reformed  there, 
especially  as  very  soon  the  Reformed  outnumbered  them. 
This  led  to  religious  friction.  The  Margrave,  when  he 
invited  them  to  come,  promised  them  liberty  to  have 
Reformed  worship,  but  on  December  9,  1686,  he  issued  a 
decree,  in  which  they  were  requested  to  conform  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  and  promise  not  to 
teach  anything  against  it,  and  never  to  call  a  pastor   who 


THE    FRANKISH    SYNOD.  201 

would  not  agree  to  it  as  approved  by  the  French  Synod 
of  Charenton,  1631,  and  subscribed  to  by  Calvin.  This 
produced  dissension  in  the  colony,  which  broke  out  July, 
1787,  and  lasted  seven  months.  Some  of  the  pastors 
signed  it.  Others  in  the  colony  refused  and  attacked  the 
pastors  for  doing  so.  Finally  the  colony  held  a  mass 
meeting  and  determined  to  leave  Erlangen,  rather  than 
give  up  their  Reformed  faith.  They  had  left  France  for 
conscience's  sake ;  they  could  now  leave  Erlangen  also.  It 
began  to  look  as  if  the  colony,  which  had  been  the  Mar- 
grave's pride,  would  come  to  naught.  He  finally  recalled 
his  demand  for  them  to  subscribe  to  the  Augsburg  Con- 
fession and  to  become  Lutherans.  But  his  decision  came 
too  late  to  prevent  about  two  hundred  of  the  colony  from 
leaving,  who  went  to  Holland  and  Brandenburg. 

The  controversy,  however,  had  one  good  effect.  It 
led  to  the  calling  of  a  Reformed  Synod,  to  which  the 
whole  matter  was  referred,  for  there  were  a  few  Reformed 
congregations  in  that  neighborhood,  in  Southern  Germany, 
who  came  together  to  a  synod  at  Erlangen,  February  24, 
1688.  The  Synod  was  composed  of  the  French  Reformed 
churches  of  Erlangen,  Wilhelmsdorf,  Neustadt  on  the 
Aisch,  Baireuth,  Schwabach,  and  Nuremberg  or  Stein. 
Some  of  these  churches  are  interesting.  Among  these,  the 
Reformed  church  at  Nuremberg  is  the  most  interesting. 
It  is  the  oldest  Reformed  church  in  Southern  Germany. 
As  far  back  as  the  Reformation,  the  Reformed  Church 
14 


202  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMAXY. 

had  adherents  there.  Albert  Diirer,  the  celebrated 
painter,  was  an  adherent  of  Zwingli.  Between  the  years 
1568-73  many  refugees  came  from  the  persecutions  of 
the  Duke  of  Alva  in  the  Netherlands.  They  soon  noticed 
the  diiference  between  the  ritualistic  services  of  the  Luth- 
erans and  their  plain  Reformed  service  in  Holland.  They 
were  especially  scandalized  by  the  use  of  exorcism  at  bap- 
tism. They  therefore  desired  that  when  their  children 
were  baptized,  exorcism  should  be  left  out.  This  led  to  a 
controversy  between  the  Lutheran  ministers  of  the  place. 
But  their  request  was  finally  refused.  At  first  they  had 
their  children  baptized  at  Neumarkt,  in  the  Upper  Palat- 
inate, which  was  under  a  Reformed  Prince.  After  that 
was  lost  to  the  Palatinate,  they  went  to  Heroldsburg, 
about  six  miles  away,  which  belonged  to  the  noble  family 
of  Gender  of  Rabenstein.  The  authorities  of  Nuremberg 
took  severe  measures  against  the  Reformed,  even  denying 
them  Christian  burial.  Holland,  Prussia  and  the  Palat- 
inate interceded  for  them,  but  in  vain.  In  1661  the  Mar- 
grave of  Brandenburg-Anspach,  through  the  intercession  of 
the  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  gave  them  permission  to  build 
a  churcli  in  the  village  of  Stein,  four  and  a  half  miles 
from  Nuremberg.  Here  they  worshipped  for  43  years. 
During  that  time  the  painter  and  electoral  councillor, 
Sandrart,  was  a  prominent  member.  But  the  wars  finally 
made  it  dangerous  to  go  even  to  Stein.  So  through  the 
the  intercession  of  Holland  and  Prussia,  they  were  allowed 
temporarily  to  hold  private  Reformed  services  in  Nurem- 


ERLAXGEX    UNIVERSITY.  203 

berg,  1706,  in  the  garden  house  of  a  wealthy  member, 
named  Polhem.  They  were  then  granted  the  privilege  of 
having  a  church  in  the  town,  but  it  was  required,  as  in 
many  other  Lutheran  cities,  as  Frankford  and  Hamburg, 
to  have  no  bells  or  tower,  and  not  to  have  the  outward 
appearance  of  a  church,  while  all  baptisms  and  marriages 
and  funerals  were  to  be  held  by  the  Lutheran  ministers. 
When  Nuremberg  came  under  the  Bavarian  government 
in  1809,  the  St.  Martha's  church  (near  the  railroad  station 
— an  interesting  church,  having  been  used  by  the  Meister 
singers  for  a  time)  was  given  to  them. 

But  the  special  significance  of  this  church  at  Erlangen 
lies  in  the  fact,  that,  just  as  at  Halle,  this  French  colony 
prepared  the  way  for  the  founding  of  a  university.  In 
July  27,  1696,  a  Knight's  Academy  was  opened.  This 
Knight's  Academy  was  changed  by  the  Margrave  into  a 
university  in  1743.  When  the  Margrave  built  his  castle 
at  Erlangen,  in  1703,  the  Reformed  placed  there  a  foun- 
tain, which  represented  a  mountain  on  which  was  the  Mar- 
grave surrounded  by  Tritons,  and  45  life-like  statues  of 
members  of  the  French  colony.  This  fountain  is  tliere 
to-day,  as  the  perpetual  witness  to  the  Margrave's  kind- 
ness in  giving  them  an  asylum.* 

*  Owing  to  the  persecutions  in  the  Palatinate,  a  number  of  Germans  came 
there  who  worshipped  at  first  with  the  French  in  their  church.  But  one  of 
the  Germans  left  a  legacy  in  1697  of  1,000  florins,  provided  he  be  buried  in 
the  church.  This  the  French  opposed  bitterly,  because  such  a  thing  was 
unheard  of  in  the  Huguenot  churches  in  France,  although  nothing  unusual  in 
Germany.  So  the  German  Reformed  built  a  church  of  their  own,  and  there 
are  now  two  Reformed  churches  at  Erlangen,  a  French  and  German. 


CHAPTER  III.— SECTION  III. 

WURTEMBERG. 

The  Duke  of  Wurtemberg,  although  a  Lutheran,  also 
received  Reformed  colonists  in  the  Waldenses.  (For  the 
Waldenses  had  joined  the  Reformed  Church  in  1532, 
under  the  influence  of  Ecolampadius).  When  the  Duke 
of  Savoy  drove  the  Waldenses  out  of  Italy  in  1698,  three 
thousand  of  them  fled  to  Switzerland,  and  from  that  land 
they  emigrated  to  other  Protestant  lands.  The  Duke  of 
Wurtemberg  had  great  need  of  them,  for  his  land  had 
been  so  fearfully  devastated  by  the  Thirty  Years'  War, 
that  only  one-fourth  of  his  population  remained  after  the 
war.  As  Switzerland  was  overcrowded  with  refugees,  the 
Swiss  authorities  asked  him  to  take  some  of  the  refugees. 
The  negotiations  hung  fire  for  several  years.  In  October, 
1693,  three  Waldensian  deputies,  one  of  whom  was  Henri 
Arnaud,  the  famous  warrior  preacher,  came  to  Stuttgart, 
asking  the  Duke  to  allow  them  to  settle  in  Wurtemberg. 
Fortunately  the  authorities  confused  them  with  the  Bohe- 
mian brethren,  and  concluded  that  they  were  not  really 
Reformed.  So  two  thousand  of  them  were  admitted. 
The  edict  of  the  Duke  gave  them  freedom  from  taxes  for 
ten  years,  and  also  freedom  to  have  their  own  mode  of 


HENRI   ARNAUD.  205 

worship,  as  well  as  permissioD  to  hold  Synods.  Some  of 
the  WaldeDses  settled  near  the  old  abbey  of  Maulbronu. 
It  is  an  interesting  coincidence  tlmt  this  old  abbey,  where 
Ursinus  and  Olevianus  took  part  in  a  conference  in  1564 
with  the  Lutherans,  should  now  receive  Reformed  inhabi- 
tants in  its  neighborhood.*  The  first  Synod  of  these 
Waldensian  churches  was  held  at  Durmenz,  September 
12,  1701.  It  included  all  the  Waldensian  colonies  in 
Wurtemberg,  to  which  was  added  the  Reformed  church 
at  Cannstadt,  which  was  not  Waldensian,  but  composed  of 
French  refugees. f 

The  most  interesting  character  in  this  colony  of 
Waldenses  was  Henri  Arnaud,  one  of  the  finest  statesmen 
and  generals  the  Reformed  ever  had — ^^  a  soldier  of  the 
cross."  He  was  born  at  La  Tour  in  Italy,  the  capital  of 
the  Waldensian  valleys  in  1641,  educated  in  theology  at 
Basle,  where  the  university  had  an  endowment  for  the 
Waldensian  students.  He  then  went  to  Holland,  where 
under  the  Dutch  government  he  learned  the  art  of  war. 

*  Nine  parishes  were  formed,  many  of  them  named  after  their  former  vil- 
lages in  their  Italian  valleys.  Villars,  Durmenz  (of  which  Schonenburg  was 
a  branch),  Pinaehe  and  Luzerne  were  located  near  Maulbronn,  while  Xordhau- 
sen,  Perouse,  Palmbach,  Neuhengstett  were  near  each  other,  but  some  distance 
from  Maulbronn. 

f  This  church  of  Cannstadt  was  afterwards  united  with  the  Reformed 
church  of  Stuttgart,  formed  of  Huguenots  in  1749.  There  was  also  a 
Reformed  church  formed  at  Ludwigsburg,  for  which  a  large  amount  of  money 
was  raised  in  foreign  lands.  With  this  they  built  a  church,  but  were  never 
allowed  to  use  it  by  the  Lutheran  government.  In  spite  of  the  protests  of 
the  Reformed,  the  government  turned  it  into  a  garrison  church,  1781.  It  was 
*'  a  church  robbery,"  as  Zahn  calls  it. 


206  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

He  returned  to  the  Waldensian  valleys  in  1670,  and 
entered  the  pastorate.  He  knew  not  why  he  was  thus 
led  to  mingle  the  art  of  war  with  the  ministry  of  peace, 
but  God  knew.  He  was  preparing  Arnaud  to  save  the 
Waldenses  from  destruction.  In  1686  hundreds  of  the 
Waldenses  fled  over  the  Mont  Cenis  Pass,  amid  snows 
and  storms,  from  the  persecutions  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy. 
Arnaud,  after  making  a  brave  defense  at  Germano,  also 
fled.  But  in  a  year  or  two  political  aifairs  changed. 
The  Duke  of  Savoy,  who  had  persecuted  them  to  please 
the  King,  of  France,  now  broke  with  France,  and  became 
her  enemy.  Matters  looked  more  hopeful.  Like  the 
Swiss'  home-sickness  for  their  native  Alps,  these  Wal- 
densians  (Italian  Swiss)  sighed  for  their  valleys.  This  led 
to  the  "  Glorious  Return,"  which  was  led  by  Arnaud. 
Those  who  had  determined  to  go  back  to  Italy,  met 
secretly,  Augutt  16,  1689,  in  a  large  wood  at  Prangins.* 
They  then  crossed  the  lake,  and,  900  strong,  entered  the 
dominions  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy.  Untold  difficulties 
hindered  them,  but  they  marched  over  the  frozen  Alps 
of  Mont  Blanc  and  Mont  Cenis,  over  glaciers  and  amid 
avalanches,  along  steep  defiles,  and  often  hanging  over 
precipices  (as  great  a  march  as  ever  Napoleon  made 
over  the  Alps).  Suddenly,  like  a  thunderbolt  from  the 
skies,  they  fell  on  the  French  garrison,  that  endeavored 

*  Now  a  Moravian  school,  west  of  Lake  Geneva,  between  Rolle  and  Nyon. 


THE   GLORIOUS    RETURN.  207 

te  stop  their  way  into  the  valleys,  and  defeated  them. 
On  the  ninth  day  they  arrived  at  their  valleys.  Just  as 
Xenophon's  ten  thousand  Greeks  cried  out  when  they  saw 
the  sea,  ''  the  sea,  the  sea/'  so  these  Waldenses  thanked 
God  that  they  were  again  in  their  old  valleys.  On  the 
28th  of  August  they  held  their  first  service  in  an  old 
ruined  chapel,  when  Arnaud,  minister  as  well  as  general, 
preached  a  sermon  on  Psalm  129,  verses  one  and  two : 
"  Many  a  time  have  they  afflicted  me  from  my  youth,  yet 
they  have  not  prevailed  against  me.''  During  the  winter 
that  followed  they  would  have  starved  to  death,  had  not 
Providence  provided  for  them.  A  sudden  thaw  removed, 
in  one  night,  a  mass  of  snow  from  the  fields,  where  they 
discovered  a  considerable  quantity  of  wheat  (standing  in 
the  earth,  ready  for  the  sickle)  that  had  been  suddenly 
covered  with  snow.  On  this  they  lived  till  spring. 
During  the  winter  they  had  entrenched  themselves  in  an 
almost  impregnable  mountain,  the  Balsille.  In  the 
spring  an  army  of  22,000  attacked  them.  They  w^ere 
less  than  1,000  against  over  20,000.  They  defended 
themselves  bravely,  but  when  the  final  assault  on  them 
was  made,  they  determined  to  die,  rather  than  surrender. 
That  night,  by  an  inaccessible  path,  by  literally  hanging 
over  precipices,  they  escaped.  It  was  an  amazing  exploit, 
that  utterly  confounded  their  enemies.  Thus  they 
gained  their  valleys  again..    But  when  in   1698  persecu- 


208  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

tion  came  again,  Ariiaud  went  with  them  to  Wurtem- 
berg,  and  settled  at  Schonenburg.  He  became  pastor  of 
the  Waldensian  church  at  Durmenz  for  twenty  years. 
He  had  offers  of  military  service  in  England,  yet  on 
account  of  his  increasing  age  and  his  love  for  the  Wal- 
denses,  he  preferred  this  quiet  country  parish.  He  wrote 
his  famous  chronicles  of  the  Glorious  Return  in  1710. 
He  was  president  of  the  Wurtemberg  Reformed  Synod, 
1708.  He  died  at  Schonenburg,  September  8,  1721.* 
Thus  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany  numbered  among 
her  pastors  the  bravest  of  the  Waldenses. 

In  addition  to  Arnaud,  there  should  also  be  mentioned 
three  Reformed  princesses,  who  graced  the  throne  of  Wur- 
tembero^.  Althoutrh  the  rulina^  house  there  was  Luth- 
eran,  that  did  not  prevent  them  from  marrying  Reformed 
Princesses.  The  son  of  the  Duke  who  invited  the  Wal- 
denses, married  a  Reformed  Princess,  Maria  Henrietta  of 
Brandenburg  Schwedt,  who  had  as  her  court  preacher  at 
Stuttgart  the  saintly  Du  Saint  Aubon.  Duke  Frederick 
Eugene,  a  field  marshal  of  Frederick  the  Great,  married 
Princess  Dorothea  Sophia,  also  of  Brandenburg  Schwedt. 
She  became  regent  of  Wurtemberg  in  1795,  during  his 
sickness,  so  that  Lutheran  Wurtemberg  was  ruled  by  a 
Reformed  Princess  for  a  brief  period.     The  second  son  of 

the  last  named  Princess  also  married  Princess  Henrietta 

— -  ^     _    < 

*  The  Reformed  church  at  that  place  was  torn  down  in  1803,  and  a  new 
and  beautiful  church  built  on  the  old  site.  It  is  said  that  he  is  buried  under 
the  communion  table. 


THE   REFORMED   OF   WURTEMBERG.  209 

of  Nassau  Weilburg,  in  1797.  She  was  a  great  friend 
of  the  Pietists,  and  a  member  of  the  Reformed  church  at 
Stuttgart.  When  the  union  of  1817  was  introduced  into 
Wurtemberg,  these  Waldensian  churches,  which  had 
given  up  the  French  language  for  the  German,  were 
absorbed,  so  that  the  only  Reformed  church  there  now  is 
the  Reformed  church  of  Cannstadt-Stuttgart. 


CHAPTER  lY.— SECTION  I. 

THE  PECULIARITIES  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS  AND  THEIR 
EFFECT  ON  THE  GERMANS. 

So  large  an  immigration  could  not  fail  to  leave  its 
impression  on  Germany.  It  was  virtually  the  founding  of 
a  new  nation,  60,000  strong  in  the  heart  of  Germany.  Some 
idea  of  their  influence  can  be  had,  when  one  remembers 
that  there  are  in  Germany  now,  according  to  Tollin,  more 
than  a  million  who  have  Huguenot  blood  in  their  veins. 
Many  of  their  congregations  have  passed  away  or  have 
become  German  Reformed  since  then.  But  French  is 
still  used  in  the  churches  at  Frankford  on  the  Main, 
Hanau,  Frederichsdorf,  Dornholzhausen  and  Berlin. 
And  though  many  of  the  churches  have  lapsed  or  become 
German,  yet  the  influence  of  this  French  immigration 
remains.  In  very  many  ways  they  have  left  their  impress 
on  Germany,  far  beyond  Avhat  Avas  to  be  expected  from 
their  numbers.  For  they  were  a  very  superior  people. 
We  will  notice  the  peculiarities  of  the  Huguenots,  some 
of  w^hich  they  stamped  on  the  German  people.  There  are 
certain  marked  characteristics  of  the  Huguenot  which 
must  be  noted,  so  as  to  measure  their  influence.  ^They 
not  merely  influenced  Germany  by  their  numbers,  but  by 


CHARACTERISTICS    OF   THE    HUGUENOTS.  211 

their  dispositions ;  that  is^  they   added  certain  important 
elements  for  the  development  of  German  character. 

The  first  was  their  industry  and  economy.  They  at 
once  began  to  build  up  trades,  and  many  became  wealthy. 
Although  during  the  first  15  or  20  years  they  cost  more 
than  they  produced,  yet  they  soon  proved  to  be  very 
profitable  financially  to  the  Princes  who  gave  them  refuge. 
They  made  the  waste  places  blossom  as  the  rose.  They 
built  suburbs  of  cities,  as  Stendal  and  Moabit,  and  other 
districts  in  Berlin.  Thev  even  founded  new  cities  as  New 
Cassel,  Christian  Erlangen,  New  Isenberg  and  others, 
besides  building  many  villages  in  Wurtemberg,  Hesse- 
Cassel,  Hesse-Homburg,  Schwartz v/ald,  Brandenburg, 
Brandenburg- Baireuth,  etc.  They  brought  prosperity  by 
planting  new  industries.  French  industries  bloomed  in 
Germany.  The  famous  Gobelin  tapestries  were  made  in 
Berlin  and  adorned  the  palace.  Thus  they  introduced 
silk  and  linen  weaving,  the  weaving  of  woolen  stockings, 
hat  and  glove  making.  They  founded  tan  yards,  were 
raisers  of  tobacco,  smiths,  cutlers  and  jewelers,  in  all  of 
which  trades  they  excelled.  They  made  looking  glasses 
better  tlian  those  of  Venice,  and  by  their  knowledge  of 
mining  and  metallurgy  diverted  the  copper  trade  from 
Sweden,  and  the  iron  trade  from  France.  As  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  prosperity  they  brought,  it  is  said  that  the  town 
of  Christian  Erlangen,  which  before  had  yielded  no  reve- 
nue, had  by  1695  an  annual  sale  of  wares  amounting  to 


212  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

200,000  florins,  equal  to  500,000  florins  now.  They  thus 
proved  a  blessing  to  Germany,  and  impressed  on  her  lessons 
of  industry  and  economy,  which  prepared  her  for  her  later 
prominence  and  prosperity.  They  laid  the  foundations 
for  the  united  Germany  of  to-day  by  their  military  ability, 
commercial  success  and  financial  economy. 

Their  influence  on  scholarship  was  as  great  as  on  manu- 
factures. We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  Germany  had  no 
scholars  before  they  came,  for  she  was  an  intelligent 
nation.  And  yet  Mr.  Pool  says  :  "  The  society  of  Berlin 
was  the  creation  of  the  exiles,  and  it  was  the  Reformed 
who  gave  to  it  the  mobile  course  of  thought,  that  finer 
culture,  that  tact  in  matters  of  art,  that  instinct  of  culti- 
vation which  had  before  been  the  unique  possession  of  the 
French.  They  diff'used  their  own  spirit,  quick,  fine, 
lucid,  the  spirit  of  French  vivacy  and  precision.'^  They 
aided  in  the  formation  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at 
Berlin.  Many  of  them  were  famous  for  learning  and  elo- 
quence, as  Ancillon,  Beausobre,  Lenfant  and  Basnage, 
and  became  leaders  in  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Berlin. 
There  were  many  intelligent  men  among  them,  scholars, 
artists  and  others,  who  amply  repaid  the  kindness  of  those 
who  received  them. 

A  second  peculiarity  was  their  uprightness  and  moral- 
ity. The  answer,  "  I  am  a  refugee,''  was  a  guarantee  to 
purity  of  character.  Many  stories  of  their  sincerity  and 
uprightness  have   been   told.      Thus   a    member   of  the 


CHARACTElRISTICS   OF   THE    HUGUENOTS.  213 

Huguenot  church  at  Frankford  on  the  Oder,  named  ColaSy 
was  elected  elder,  but  did  not  appear  at  the  time  of  ordi- 
nation. He  Avas  summoned  to  appear  before  the  congre- 
gation to  explain  his  absence.  The  next  Sunday  he  came 
and  confessed  his  secret  guilt.  He  said  that  unknown  to 
any  one  there,  he  had  in  France,  when  threatened  by  the 
dragoons,  promised  to  renounce  his  Reformed  faith,  but 
he  had  never  gone  to  mass.  Eight  days  after,  he  gave  up 
his  home  there,  bitterly  bewailing  his  renunciation  of  the 
Reformed  faith.  He  went  to  Maestrecht  in  the  Nether- 
lands, where,  before  a  Reformed  pastor,  he  had  made  a 
solemn  recall  of  his  recantation  of  Protestantism.  He  had 
thus  made  repentence,  but  his  heart  was  still  not  at  rest. 
Publicly  he  had  left  his  faith,  publicly  he  felt  he  must 
confess  his  sin.  And  now  he  publicly  confessed  it  before 
the  church  at  Frankford,  which  had  elected  him  elder. 
The  Presbyterium  of  that  church  received  his  confession  and 
repentence,  and  restored  him  publicly  to  the  church.  Such 
integrity  as  this  did  not  fail  to  impress  the  royal  family 
of  Prussia.  The  Elector  one  day  surprised  his  wife  in  the 
act  of  giving  the  crown  jewels  into  tlie  hands  of  a  stranger. 
In  astonishment  he  asked  her  who  the  man  was.  She 
replied,  "  I  do  not  know  his  name,  but  I  know  he  is  a 
Huguenot."  That  was  enough.  "  A  Huguenot's  word 
was  as  good  as  a  bond."  In  Frederichsdorf  there  has  not 
been  in  the  history  of  that  church  during  two  centuries  a 
single  illegitimate  birth.      The  coming  of  sucli  a  high 


214  THE    EEFOEMED   CHURCH   OF    GERMAXY. 

grade  of  citizens  could  not  but  elevate  the  tone  of  the 
morality  very  much.  They  proved  a  great  blessing 
morally  to  Germany. 

Another  peculiarity  was  their  benevolence  and  liber- 
ality. They  had  been  taught  self-denial  by  their  perse- 
cutions, and  they  were  liberal  givers  to  the  Lord.  It  is 
said  that  at  every  communion  the  *Huguenot  gave  his 
mite,  and  even  the  poor  would  make  that  mite  of  silver 
or  gold.  They  founded  hospitals  and  orphanages  for 
their  Frenck  congregations.  I^o  Frenchman  ever  needed 
to  beg.  In  some  of  their  congregations  the  consistory 
bought  beds  and  mattresses,  which  they  would  loan  out 
to  the  poor  during  the  winter,  so  that  tliey  might  not  suf- 
fer. The  annual  offerings  at  the  door  of  the  church  at 
Halle  were  300  thalers.  It  became  customary  for  them 
to  leave  legacies  to  the  poor.  These  legacies  in  the  course 
of  centuries  have  accumulated  to  large  amounts,  so  that 
some  of  the  French  churches  are  richly  endowed,  though 
small  in  numbers.  But  it  was  especially  for  their  suffer- 
ing brethren  of  the  faith  that  they  raised  funds.  They 
contributed  for  the  Waldensians,  for  the  Lutherans  of 
Salzburg,  for  their  persecuted  brethren  who  remained  in 
France,  and  for  those  who  were  galley  slaves  at  Marseilles, 
or  the  African  coast.  (It  is  said  that  the  number  of 
Huguenots  who  perished  in  wars,  galley  prisons  and  execu- 
tions was  200,000.)  When  the  report  came  that  the 
pirates  of  Algiers  had  captured  some  of  their  ministers  as 


HUGUENOT   CHARACTERISTICS.  215 

galley  slaves  in  1688,  they  raised  large  sums  of  money. 
The  church  at  Berlin  contributed  to  that  fund  1,000 
thalers.  They  also  made  personal  gifts  to  the  poor. 
Thus  a  merchant  named  Escher  at  Leipsic  presented  a 
two-story  house  to  the  congregation  at  Halle  for  a  hos- 
pital. Thus  in  many  ways  the  Huguenots  learned  the 
blessedness  of  giving,  and  the  Lord  blessed  them  for  it. 

Another  peculiarity  of  the  Huguenots  was  their  Pres- 
byterial  Church  government  and  their  church  discipline. 
In  France  the  Reformed  church  was  peculiar  in  being 
thoroughly  organized  into  classes,  synods  and  general 
synods.  Their  consistories  had  the  power  of  strict  disci- 
pline, and  prided  themselves  on  it.  But  in  Germany,  the 
Lutheran  idea  of  church  government  was  most  common. 
The  Reformed  idea  was  that  the  power  came  up  from  the 
people  through  the  elders  or  Presbytery  ;  the  Lutheran, 
that  it  came  down  from  the  Prince  through  the  consistory. 
Even  the  Reformed  churches,  with  the  exception  of  the 
General  Synod  of  Julich,  Cleve,  Berg  and  Mark,  was 
governed  by  consistories  appointed  by  the  government. 
And  of  all  the  German  Princes,  their  best  friends,  the 
Electors  of  Brandenburg,  were  most  opposed  to  the  Pres- 
byterial  government.  They  held  that  the  Prince  was  the 
head  of  the  Church — a  sort  of  bishop — and  that  he  must 
watch  over  it  with  fatherly  care.  The  French,  when  they 
came  to  Germany,  were  promised  the  Presbyterial  form 
of  government,  and  yet  it  is  a   remarkable  fact  that  that 


216  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

promise  in  the  Potsdam  edict  was  never  made  good  to 
them.  For  King  Frederick  of  Prussia  declared  that  he 
was  bishop,  and  as  such  would  see  that  their  French  rights 
were  preserved.*  The  King  of  Prussia  appointed  an 
upper  consistory  in  Berlin,  May  4,  1701,  with  inspectors 
under  it.  But  although  he  took  away  their  Synods,  he 
allowed  them  perfect  liberty  in  the  individual  congrega- 
tion. He  thus  united  the  Presbyterial  with  the  Episco- 
pal government.  He  was  bishop,  while  each  congregation 
had  its  own  Presbyterium,t  which  had  entire  control  of 
the  Church  discipline  and  benevolence  ;  but  the  upper 
courts  of  the  Church  were  under  the  control  of  the  Prince 
and  the  consistory.  The  French  congregation  at  Magde- 
burg refused  to  accept  the  control  of  the  upper  consistory, 
claiming  they  would  answer  to  none  but  elders  elected  by 
the  congregation,  and  finally  the  royal  authorities  had  to 
grant  their  position.  At  Cassel  the  French  colonies  were 
also  placed  under  a  consistory,  instead  of  a  Synod,  although 
this  was  called,  like  Calvin's  at  Geneva,  the  Venerable 
Company  of  Pastors,  and  under  it  were  inspectors  of  dif- 
ferent districts.  All  this  was  a  bitter  disappointment  to 
the  refugees,  because  they  prided  themselves  on  their  gov- 

*  In  this  opposition  to  Presbyterial  government,  he  thoroughly  sympa- 
thized with  King  James  I.  of  England,  who  said,  "that  Presbytery  and 
monarchy  agree  as  little  with  each  other  as  God  and  devil.  There,"  he  said, 
''Jack  and  Tom  and  Bill  and  Dick  decree  censure  even  against  the  king  and 
his  council,  and  do  not  allow  them  to  have  a  quiet  breath  any  more." 

-f  We  will  hereafter  use  the  word  Presbyterium  (board  of  elders),  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  Presbytery,  which  is  composed  of  ministers. 


THE  HUGUENOT  SYNODS.  217 

ernment  and  discipline.  They  expected  that  Synods  would 
be  held,  and  even  planned  the  following  division  of  Ger- 
many into  district  Synods :  first,  Anspach-Baireuth  ;  sec- 
ond, Brunswick-Hanover-Lippe ;  third,  Frankford,  the 
Palatinate,  and  Hesse  ;  fourth,  Wurtemberg.  By  this  loss 
of  Presbyterial  government  they  felt  that  their  crown  was 
taken  away  and  their  body  left  dumb.  Some  of  them 
Avrote  to  their  friends  in  France,  that  they  were  still 
under  the  cross  in  Germany,  and  they  were  much  more 
oppressed  than  they  had  been  in  France.  Indeed  it  is  a 
remarkable  fact,  that  only  in  Lutheran  counties  did  they 
receive  their  Synodal  government,  and  this  was  because 
they  were  separated  from  the  State.  But  under  Reformed 
governments  they  were  put  under  consistories  and  lost 
their  Synods.  However,  four  Synods  were  organized. 
The  first  was  the  Frankish  Reformed  Synod,  or  the  Synod 
of  Baireuth-Anspach,  which  from  1688  to  1732  held 
fourteen  Synods.*  A  second  Synod  was  formed  in  Wur- 
temberg. Its  first  meeting  was  held  at  Durmenz,  Sep- 
tember 12,  1701.     This  Synod  was  held  every  three  or 

*  When  that  land  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  he 
put  these  French  colonies  under  the  French  Upper-Consistory  at  Berlin.  Then 
Bavaria  gained  control  of  them,  and  placed  them  under  a  Lutheran  consis- 
tory, one  of  whose  members  wanted  to  know  why  the  Reformed  had  no  cruci- 
fix on  the  altar.  Tollin,  in  reply  to  this,  says  (History  of  Magdeburg,  Vol.  L, 
page  629) :  "As  is  known,  the  Reformed  generally  have  no  altar,  but  only  a 
communion  table."  Of  course  the  Reformed  were  not  satisfied  under  the 
Lutherans,  and  there  was  friction.  So  finally  a  Reformed  Synod  was  organ- 
ized, and  in  1884  the  twenty-sixth  Synod  was  held. 

15 


218  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

five  years,  and  continued  till  about  1760.  But  it  gradu- 
ally lost  its  authority  over  the  congregations,  and  so  was 
given  up.  For  the  villages  were  too  far  apart  and  the 
expense  of  traveling  too  great  for  them  to  labor  efficiently 
together  in  a  Synod.  A  third  Synod  was  the  Synod  of 
Brunswick-Hanover,  formed  of  the  Hanover,  Hameln, 
Celle,  Luneburg  and  Buckeburg  congregations  in  1703. 
This  Synod  continued  till  1725,  meeting  sometimes  yearly. 
It  was  revived  again  in  this  century  in  1829,  in  what  is 
now  "  the  Confederation  of  Lower  Saxony,"  the  congre- 
gations having  in  the  meanwhile  become  German.  An- 
other Synod,  but  of  short  duration,  was  composed  of  the 
churches  around  Frankford  on  the  Main.  It  was  com- 
posed of  the  colonies  in  Hesse-Homburg,  Isenburg-Bnd- 
ingen  and  Schaumberg,  and  held  its  sessions,  one  at 
Frankford,  November  22,  1699,  and  another  March  1, 
1702.  Countess  Elizabeth  Charlotte  of  Schaumberg,  the 
daughter  of  Melander,  the  great  general  of  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  was  the  patron  of  some  of  these  congrega- 
tions. She  gave  them  land  and  money,  but,  alas,  during 
the  Palatinate  wars,  when  the  French  armies  came  so 
near,  many  of  them  in  alarm  emigrated  farther  east  for 
the  sake  of  safety,  and  so  the  Synod  was  broken  up. 

Wherever  the  refugees  had  opportunity,  they  exercised 
the  strict  Church  discipline,  which  was  the  glory  of  their 
Church  in  France.  In  Wurtemberg  the  very  first  Synod 
took  action  against  Sabbath  labor,  although  the  poverty 


HUGUEXOT   PECULIARITIES.  219 

of  the  colonists  might  have  condoned  the  oifeuce.  At 
Erlangen  the  Presbyterium  did  not  wait  for  notorious 
scandals  to  break  out  before  they  took  action.  They 
issued  a  warning  against  anything  that  seemed  to  prepare 
the  way  for  them.  They  disciplined  two  young  people 
in  1689  for  playing  cards  all  night.  On  March  9,  1693, 
three  members  were  called  before  the  elders,  because  they 
had  not  been  at  church  service  the  previous  Sunday,  but 
on  the  bridge.  On  August  10,  1692,  a  young  woman 
was  disciplined  for  dancing.  Many  of  the  congregations, 
as  at  Halle,  Leipsic,  Erlangen  and  Cassel,  used  tokens  at 
communion,  so  as  to  prevent  the  unworthy  from  coming 
to  the  communion  table.  These  tokens  were  given  out  at 
the  preparatory  service,  and  returned  to  the  elders  at  com- 
munion.* They  used  Calvin's  Catechism  and  the  Heidel- 
berg Catechism  translated  into  French. 

Another  peculiarity  of  the  French  refugees  was  their 
intense  devotion  to  Germany.  They  learned  to  love  the 
land  that  received  them,  more  than  the  land  that  cast 
them  out.  Very  often  during  the  Napoleonic  wars  did 
the  officers  of  Napoleon,  when  in  Germany,  expect  sym- 
pathy from  these  refugees.  But  they  found  none,  and 
often  upbraided  them,  and  sometimes  severely  treated 
them  for  the  lack  of  it.  The  French,  when  they  took 
Hamburg,  loaded  the  French  pastor  with  reproaches  for 

*  At  Halle  the  token  had  on  it  the  seal  of  the  church— a  palm  branch. 
At  Erlangen  the  one  side  had  two  hands  holding  a  burning  heart,  and  on  the 
other  a  dove  with  an  olive  branch. 


220  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

not  being  true  to  France.  How  could  they  expect  it, 
when  France  drove  his  ancestors  out?  And  when  the 
French  went  away,  the  members  of  the  French  church 
there  sang  a  Te  Deum  of  praise  to  God  over  it,  thus 
showing  their  loyalty  to  the  Germans.  So,  too,  the 
French  of  Friedrichsdorf  fought  bravely  for  the  German 
Empire  against  France  in  the  war  ot  1870.  A  beautiful 
illustration  of  this  is  told,  that  when  Napoleon  was  in 
Berlin,  the  gray-haired  pastor  of  the  French  church, 
Erman,  had  an  audience  with  Napoleon.  Napoleon 
brought  various  severe  charges  against  Queen  Louisa  of 
Prussia.  But  to  everything  that  Napoleon  brought 
against  her,  Erman  answered  with  great  decision  :  "  Sire, 
it  is  not  true."  And  finally,  seizing  Napoleon's  arm,  he 
dared  to  say  :  ^^  Sire,  this  arm  is  victorious,  let  it  also  be 
gentle  and  kind.  Touch  not  the  reputation  of  the  Queen, 
for  she  is  an  excellent  Princess."  Erman  expected  that  he 
would  be  punished  by  imprisonment  or  loss  of  position  for 
doing  such  an  act,  but  to  the  surprise  of  all.  Napoleon 
allowed  him  his  liberty,  and  afterwards  said  :  "  One  of 
your  ministers  has  told  me  the  truth."  Some  time  after, 
Queen  Louisa,  at  a  feast  of  the  Order,  1810,  called 
Erman  forth,  and  thanked  him,  saying  :  ^'  I  cannot  refuse 
the  satisfaction  of  toasting  the  health  of  him,  who  had  the 
courage,  when  all  others  were  forsaking  me,  to  stand  up, 
like  one  of  the  knights  of  old,  and  break  a  lance  in 
defence  of  his  Queen."  The  Queen  after  that  was  always 
very  favorable  to  the  French  colony. 


CHAPTER  ly.— SECTION  11. 

THE  EFFECT  ON  THE  FRENCH.— THE  REVENGE  OF 
HISTORY. 

France's  loss  was  Germany's  gain.  And  the  greater 
the  loss  to  France^  the  greater  the  gain  to  Germany.  One 
fifth  of  the  Huguenots  went  into  exile.  They  took  away 
with  them  sixty  millions  of  coined  money.  As  the 
Catholic  statesman  Daubansaid,  "the  business  of  forty-six 
thousand  men  was  ruined,  the  fleet  of  the  enemy  enriched 
by  nine  thousand  sailors — the  best  in  the  kingdom,  and 
the  army  of  the  enemy,  with  six  hundred  excellent  officers 
and  twelve  thousand  experienced  soldiers."  Marshal 
Schomberg,  the  leading  General  of  France,  the  successor 
of  Turenne  and  Conde,  and  also  her  greatest  Admiral,  Du 
Quesne  (after  De  Ruyter,  the  first  Admiral  of  his  day), 
were  Huguenots.  The  former  fled,  the  latter  was  made 
the  only  exception  to  the  edict.  The  loss  to  commerce 
was  enormous.  Jurien  said :  "  The  Protestants  have 
carried  commerce  with  them  into  exile.  Of  the  18,000 
silk  looms  at  Lyons  only  400  remained.  Tours  had 
70  mills  out  of  800,  1,200  looms  out  of  80,000,  and  4,000 
inhabitants  out  of  40,000.  The  woolen  trade  of  Portou 
was   ruined.      Metz    lost   three-fourths   of    its   trade   in 


222  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

cloth,  and  from  a  population  of  60,000  fell  to  22,000 ; 
while  Lyons  fell  from  90,000  to  70,000.  In  Normandy 
26,000  houses  were  empty. 

But  worse  than  the  loss  of  population,  was  the  loss  to 
the  French  of  the  best  qualities  of  character,  that  were 
taken  out  by  the  Huguenots — the  very  qualities  that  the 
French  specially  needed  to  balance  their  character.  The 
French  are  reputed  to  be  a  mercurial,  changeable,  fickle 
race,  but  the  Huguenots  were  not  fickle  or  mercurial,  or 
they  never  would  have  given  up  all  for  the  sake  of  their 
faith.  On  the  contrary,  they  were  staunch  adherents  to 
principle,  even  if  it  led  to  death.  They,  therefore,  pos- 
sessed the  steadiness  that  the  French  seem  to  lack  to-day. 
Had  they  remained  in  France,  they  would  have  imparted 
the  much-needed  steadiness  to  the  French  nation.  In- 
deed, the  most  awful  result  of  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict 
of  Nantes  may  be  said  to  have  been  the  infidelity  of  the 
French  Revolution.  The  corrective  of  the  infidel  tend- 
ency of  the  French  Revolution  would  have  been  the 
reverence  for  God  taught  by  the  Huguenots. 

"  Self-reverence,  self-knowledge,  self-control, 
These  alone  lead  to  sovereign  power." 

This  reverence  for  God  and  religion  was  largely  lost 
to  France,  when  the  Huguenots  departed.  Bayle  said  to 
the  Romanists  of  France  :  "  Your  triumph  will  be  the 
victory  of  Deism."  And  so  it  was  afterwards  in  the 
French  Revolution.     That  Revolution  came  to  punish  a 


THE   REVENGES   OF   PROVIDENCE.  223 

nation  for  its  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  With 
the  Huguenots  went  the  pious  spirit,  the  faith,  the 
morality,  to  become  a  blessing  to  other  lands. 

And,  as  the  history  rolls  on,  nowhere  do  we  see  the 
revenges  of  history  more  strongly  brought  out  than  in  the 
wars  between  Germany  and  France.  God  sent  the  death 
angel  to  Louis  XIV.,  and  took  from  him  within  eleven 
months  his  son,  his  grandson  and  his  eldest  great-grand- 
son. The  second  great-grandson,  a  five  year  old  child, 
succeeded  him.  While  the  last  of  his  race  was  called 
"  the  paschal  lamb,"  offered  for  his  country.  As  Louis' 
body  was  brought  to  the  church  of  St.  Denis  in  Paris,  the 
Romish  people  followed  it  with  stones  and  laughter.  As 
his  heart  was  brought  to  the  Jesuit  church,  not  more  than 
six  persons,  outside  the  civil  officers,  went  with  it.  He 
died,  unwept,  unhonored,  though  not  unsung.  And  the 
further  we  follow  French  history,  the  more  the  stern 
Nemesis  of  revenge  appears.  ^'  The  mills  of  the  gods  grind 
slowly,  but  they  grind  exceedingly  fine."  God  has  avenged 
His  slaughtered  saints.  And  Germany,  who  received 
so  many  of  them,  was  ordained  of  God  to  perform  the 
punishment.  This  was  most  strikingly  brought  out  in 
the  late  Franco-Prussian  war.  Who  was  it  that  con- 
quered France  ?  A  descendent  of  the  great  Coligny,  whom 
they  massacred  at  St.  Bartholomew,  Emperor  William  I. 
of  Germany  (who  was  a  descendent  of  Coligny  nine 
generations   off),   yes,    doubly   descended    from   Coligny 


224  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

through  the  Palatinate,  and  also  through  the  Orange, 
House.*  And  where  did  the  coronation  of  the  Emperor 
of  Germany  take  place  ?  At  Versailles,  at  the  very  place 
where  the  King  Louis  XIV.  issued  his  edict,  driving  out 
the  Huguenots.  It  is  a  very  significant  fact,  that  in  the 
staff  of  Emperor  William,  when  he  rode  into  Paris,  there 
were  eighty  descendents  of  those  banished  Huguenots. 
They  were  "  Daniels  come  to  judgment.'^  And  where 
Avas  the  decisive  battle  of  the  war  fought?  At  Sedan,  so 
famous  centuries  ago  for  its  Reformed  theological  semi- 
nary, which  was  suppressed  by  Louis  XIV.  And  where 
was  the  Emperor  Louis  Napoleon  confined  as  a  prisoner  ? 
At  Williamshoehe  at  Cassel,  a  city  that  had  received  the 
refugees,  and  a  park  begun  by  them.  Fearfully  has  God 
revenged  the  Huguenots  on  France.  And  greatly  has  He 
blessed  Germany  for  receiving  them,  and  made  her  the 
leading  Empire  of  continental  Europe. f 

*  The  Coligny  family,  who  remained  in  France  and  renounced  Protestant- 
ism, died  out,  while  that  branch,  that  gave  up  all  for  the  sake  of  Christ, 
became  the  ancestors  of  Kings. 

■f-  The  same  revenge  of  history  is  to  be  noticed  in  connection  with  Austria. 
Where  did  Prussia  defeat  Austria,  and  finally  destroy  her  power  over  the  Ger- 
man States  ?  At  Sadowa,  in  Bohemia,  where  Austria  had  put  to  death  and 
banished  her  pious  Protestants,  as  France  persecuted  hers. 


BOOK    III. 


THE  KAVAGE  OF  THE  PALATINATE. 


CHAPTER  I. 
PREPARATION  FOR  THE  CATASTROPHE. 


SECTION  I. 

PRINCESS  LISE-LOTTE. 

A  second  time  was  the  Palatinate  to  have  a  baptism  of 
fire.  Forty  years  passed  away,  and  the  suiFerings  of  the 
•Thirty  Years'  War  were  light  compared  with  those  yet  to 
come.  A  century  of  darkness  came  on  the  Palatinate.  It 
began  wath  w^ars,  it  was  continued  by  persecutions.  The 
wars  had  their  beginnings  as  far  back  as  the  Thirty  Years' 
War.  For  in  that  war  the  Princes  of  the  Palatinate 
learned  the  advantages  of  making  alliances  with  the 
French,  and  of  having  French  subsidies.  Charles  Lewis 
looked  on  France  as  a  helper  against  the  aggressions  of 
the  Emperor  and  of  the  Romish  Princes  around  him. 
While  France  on  the  other  hand  was  only  too  glad  to 
form  an  alliance  that  might  be  fruitful  to  her  at  some  time 


226  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

or  other.  For  Louis  XIV.  had  an  ambition  to  be  a  new 
Charlemagne.  He  hoped  to  found  a  kingdom  that  would 
include  all  Germany,  as  well  as  France,  and  like  Charle- 
magne's, cover  Europe.  He  wanted  to  found  the  ancient 
kingdom  of  Austrasia  in  Germany,  on  which  he  proposed 
to  place  Elector  Charles  Lewis  as  King.  Thus  the 
Elector  of  the  Palatinate  Avas  coquetting  with  the  French  ; 
and  to  strengthen  his  relations  with  France,  he  determined 
to  marry  his  daughter,  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  or  as  she  is 
generally  known  in  history,  "  Lise-Lotte,''  to  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  the  brother  of  the  King  of  France. 

She  was  born  May  17,  1652,  and  was  carefully  edu- 
cated by  her  aunt,  Electress  Sophia  of  Hanover,  under  the 
eye  of  the  philosopher,  Leibnitz.  She  became  a  woman 
of  remarkable  abilities.  She  however  looked  on  her  mar- 
riage, which  was  a  purely  political  one,  with  dread.  She 
finally  acquiesced  to  her  father's  will,  and  was  married  in 
1671,  but  she  ever  considered  herself  the  political  lamb, 
sacrificed  for  her  land.  She  went  to  Metz,  and  by  JSTo- 
vember,  1671,  she  was  there  compelled  to  give  up  her 
Protestant  faith  and  join  the  Pomish  Church,  an  act  which 
caused  a  great  sensation  among  the  Reformed  of  the  Palat- 
inate. 

But  though  a  nominal  Romanist,  Lise-Lotte  ever 
remained  a  Protestant  at  heart,  as  her  life  and  letters  show. 
She  read  her  Bible  in  spite  of  the  bigoted  warnings  of  King 
Louis  XIY.  and  of  the  ridicule  of  the  court.     She  spent 


PRINCESS    LISE-LOTTE.  227 

part  of  every  moruing  in  reading  the  Bible  and  in  prayer. 
A  beautiful  illustration  is  told  of  her,  that  she  was  walk- 
ing one  day  in  the  Orangerie  at  Versailles,  and  was  sing- 
ing the  sixth  Psalm  in  French.  (It  required  a  good  deal 
of  courage  to  do  this,  for  the  French  Psalms  were  the 
symbol  of  Protestantism,  and  were  often  forbidden  by  the 
French  government.)  While  she  was  singing  it,  a  noted 
artist  of  the  time,  warmly  attached  to  the  Reformed 
religion,  happened  to  be  painting  the  roof.  Scarcely  had 
she  finished  the  last  verse,  when  she  saw  Mr.  Rosseau 
hasten  down  the  ladder  and  fall  at  her  feet.  She  thought 
he  was  mad,  and  said,  "  Rosseau,  what  is  the  matter  ?'' 
With  tears  in  his  eyes  he  replied  :  "  Is  it  possible  that  you 
still  recollect  our  Psalms  and  sing  them  ?  May  God 
bless  and  keep  you  in  this  good  mind."  It  is  somewhat 
remarkable  that  about  the  time  that  Louis  XIV.  issued 
his  Revocation,  driving  the  Reformed  out  of  France,  she 
was  singing  their  Psalms  in  his  palace.  She  was  bitterly 
opposed  to  all  priestcraft,  and  hated  the  Jesuits  with  a 
great  hatred,  for  the  woes  they  brought  on  her  dear  land 
of  the  Palatinate.  When  her  son  became  regent  in  France, 
she  did  much  to  save  some  of  the  Reformed  from  the 
awful  punishment  of  the  galleys.  She  lived  like  a  her- 
mit, she  said,  separated  from  her  loved  ones,  her  faith, 
her  land,  and  out  of  sympathy  Avith  the  court.  Her 
children  were  her  only  joy,  and  they  w^ere  snatched  away 
from  her,  to  be  educated  in   the  Romish   faith  ;  for   evi- 


228  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

dently  the  Romanists  felt  they  could  not  be  exactly  sure 
that  they  would  be  thorough  Romanists,  if  left  to  the 
trainino:  of  such  a  Bible  reader  as  their  mother. 

Her  strong  religious  principles  enabled  her  to  remain 
pure  in  that  most  corrupt  court.  She  was  the  pure  white 
lily  in  that  black  marsh  of  Versailles.  Her  son,  separated 
from  the  good  influence  of  his  mother,  grew  up  a  liber- 
tine, and  her  daughter,  a  fashionable  weakling.  Her 
great  comfort  was  in  her  letter- writing  to  her  aunt  Sophia 
at  Hanover.  Although  she  lived  in  France,  yet  she  ever 
remained  an  intense  German  in  her  sympathies.  After  a 
stay  of  thirty  years,  she  still  confessed  that  she  was  a 
stranger  in  France.  Louis  XIV.  respected  her  for  her 
strength  and  purity  of  character ;  and  in  his  old  age, 
when  broken  down  by  defeats  and  disappointments,  recog- 
nized her  worth,  and  leaned  on  her  for  comfort.  Madame 
De  Main  tenon  hated  her  bitterly,  but  never  was  able  to' 
destroy  the  King's  regard  for  her.  She  was  his  good 
angel,  as  Madame  De  Maintenon  was  his  evil  angel.  She 
died,  October  8,  1722.  She  was  strong  without  ambition, 
pious  without  bigotry,  prudent  without  pretense — a 
remarkable  woman.  In  spite  of  the  untoward  influences 
against  her  and  her  house,  she  still  became  the  ancestress 
of  Kings,  for  the  Orleans  family  of  France  and  the 
family  of  Maria  Theresa  of  Austria  both  are  descended 
from  her. 


SUFFERINGS    OF   THE   PALATINATE.  229 

But  her  marriage,  instead  of  saving  her  land,  only 
proved  its  ruin.  Elector  Charles  Lewis  lived  to  see  the 
mistake  he  had  made.  For  the  French  sent  their  armies 
into  the  western  Palatinate  in  the  wars  of  the  Reunions, 
in  1673  and  again  in  1674,  terribly  devastating  the  dis- 
tricts west  of  the  Rhine.  He  wrote  to  the  French 
General,  Turenne,  asking  him,  if  he  had  forgotten  that 
his  father,  when  a  refugee,  had  once  found  an  asylum  in 
the  Palatinate.*  But  in  spite  of  the  Elector's  protests, 
the  French  crossed  the  Rhine,  ravaging  the  Berg-Strasse 
fearfully.  They  tore  the  clothes  off  the  inhabitants  in 
their  search  for  money,  and  dug  up  springs,  and  tore  off 
the  plaster  from  the  walls.  And,  because  some  money 
happened  once  to  be  found  secreted  in  a  stork's  nest,  the 
storks  had  a  sorry  time  of  it,  for  all  their  nests  Avere 
uprooted.  Finally  the  French  retired  from  the  Palati- 
nate in  1679,  before  the  advancing  German  armies.  But 
the  air  w^as  still  full  of  rumors  of  wars.  Elector  Charles 
Lewis  died,  October  17,  1680. 

*  Turenne  had  been  a  Protestant,  but  through  the  influence  of  his  second 
wife  had  become  a  Romanist. 


CHAPTER  I.— SECTION  11. 
PRINCESS  ELIZABETH  OF  THE  PALATINATE. 

Princess  Elizabeth  was  the  most  talented  Princess  the 
Reformed  Church  of  Germany  ever  possessed.  She  was 
the  oldest  sister  of  Elector  Charles  Lewis,  and  was  born 
December  26,  1718,  at  Heidelberg.  When  her  father, 
Elector  Frederick  V.,  went  to  Bohemia,  she  was  left 
behind  with  her  grandmother,  the  Electress  Juliane,  and 
when  the  latter  fled,  was  taken  with  her  to  Koenigsberg. 
It  was  the  sublime  faith  and  religious  earnestness  of  her 
grandmother  that  helped  to  lay  the  foundations  of  the 
serious  thoughtfulness  of  her  character.  At  the  age  of 
ten  she  was  sent  to  her  father's  family  in  Holland.  Here 
she  learned  the  secrets  of  sorrow.  Her  family  was  in 
exile,  her  dearest  brother  was  drowned.  Then  her  father 
died.  Her  mother,  the  Electress  Elizabeth,  failed  to  rec- 
ognize her  abilities,  so  that  there  was  a  coolness  shown 
to  her. 

But  her  adversities  turned  out  to  be  blessings.  For 
when  her  family  had  been  driven  into  exile  by  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  they  had  settled  in  one  of  the  most  learned 
lands  in  Europe.  Holland  was  then  the  home  of  paint- 
ers, poets   and   thinkers.     Here  Rene  Descartes  became 


DESCARTES   AND    ELIZABETH.  231 

private  tutor  to  Elizabeth,  and  she  made  great  progress 
in  his  studies.  (Elizabeth  made  no  pretentions  to  beauty, 
but  had  an  expressive  eye  and  a  pleasant  countenance.) 
Descartes  was  delighted  to  find  in  her  a  scholar  so  capable 
of  exploring  with  him  erudite  questions,  and  of  compre- 
hending sublime  truths.  After  teaching  her  for  about 
two  years,  he  went  to  north  Holland,  but  still  kept  up 
correspondence  with  her,  his  favorite  pupil,  and  often 
went  to  the  Hague,  so  as  to  visit  her.  The  little  court  of 
the  Palatinate  family,  although  in  exile,  became  famous 
for  its  beauty  and  learning,  so  that  it  was  called  ^^  the 
home  of  the  Muses  and  Graces.''  Of  the  three  illustrious 
sisters  in  that  family,  Louisa  was  the  greatest  artist, 
Sophia  the  most  polished  lady,  but  Elizabeth  the  most 
learned.  She  made  such  progress  in  philosophy  that  she 
became  famous  as  the  Star  of  the  North.  Her  learning 
was  considered  all  the  more  remarkable,  because  at  that 
time  it  was  considered  above  the  sphere  or  power  of 
woman  to  excel  in  philosophy.  In  her  correspondence 
with  Descartes  she  would  discuss  the  deepest  questions  of 
philosophy,  such  as  the  union  of  soul  and  body,  God's 
omnipotence  and  omniscience,  and  man's  free  agency  and 
virtue.  Descartes  appreciated  her  so  highly  as  to  dedi- 
cate his  leading  work,  "  The  Principles  of  Philosophy,"  to 
her.  In  1647  she  went  to  Berlin,  where,  in  the  court  of 
her  uncle,  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  she  gained  great 
fame,   especially   through   a   disputation   which  she  had 


232  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

with  the  celebrated  Thomas  Kresbesch.  While  staying 
here  she  learned  with  great  sorrow  of  the  death  of  her 
teacher  Descartes. 

After  the  Thirty  Years'  War  was  over,  she  went  back 
to' Heidelberg  with  her  brother  to  live.  Here  her  literary 
talents  brought  her  into  intimate  relations  with  the  pro- 
fessors in  the  university,  especially  with  Professor  Hot- 
tinger,  who  compared  her  with  the  talented  Oiympia 
Morata,  who  had  graced  Heidelberg  a  century  before. 
Through  a  relative  she  became  acquainted  with  the  cele- 
brated theologian,  Jolm  Koch,  the  founder  of  the  Cocceian 
school  of  theology,  and  kept  up  a  correspondence  with 
him.  But  when  her  brother  put  away  his  wife  and  mar- 
ried the  Raugrafin,  she  indignantly  left  his  court  (1662) 
and  went  to  live  with  his  disowned  wife  at  Cassel.  In 
1667  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  appointed  her  Abbess  at 
Herford,  a  Protestant  Abbey.  This  gave  her  a  small 
territory  with  about  seven  thousand  inhabitants  to  rule 
over.  These  she  governed  with  wise  discretion,  and  at 
the  same  time  gathered  around  her  a  congenial  company 
of  thinkers,  so  that  Herford  became  a  court  of  the 
Muses. 

It  was  her  liberal  spirit  that  led  her  to  invite  Labadie 
and  his  congregation  to  settle  in  her  land.  The  dangers 
of  Cartesian  rationalism  Avere  in  her  counteracted  by 
Pietism.  Against  the  coming  of  these  Separatists  in  1670, 
the  Lutheran  ministers  and  people  of  her  land  protested. 


PENN    AND    ELIZABETH.  233 

They  appealed  to  her,  and  from  her  to  the  Elector  of  Bran- 
denburg, so  as  to  get  rid  of  them.  She  however  gave 
these  Labadists  a  home  for  two  years,  because  she  believed 
in  freedom  of  conscience.  For  this  act  she  had  to  suffer  a 
good  deal  of  ridicule  and  opposition. 

It  was  her  reception  of  Labadie  that  called  the  atten- 
tion of  William  Penn  to  her.  There  were  two  reasons 
why  Penn  respected  the  Reformed  Church.  One  was 
because  his  mother  had  been  a  member  of  that  Church  in 
Holland.  Another  was  because  he  had  studied  at  one  of 
the  Reformed  universities,  the  university  of  Saumur  in 
France,  1662-3.  Here  he  had  sat  at  the  feet  of  Professor 
Moses  Amyraut,  who  was  compared  to  Moses  leading  the 
Israelites,  and  whose  fame  was  sung  in  the  couplet : 

"  From  Moses  down  to  Moses  none 
Among  the  sons  of  men 
With  equal  lustre  ever  shone 
In  manners,  tongue  or  pen." 

Penn  determined  to  visit  Elizabeth,  hoping  to  convert 
such  a  learned,  broad-minded  Princess  to  his  Quaker 
faith.  He  visited  her  in  1677  at  Herford,  and  stayed 
with  her  three  days.  On  the  first  day  of  his  visit  he 
called  on  her  and  was  surprised  to  be  received  with  such 
warm  expressions  of  welcome.  He,  therefore,  took  cour- 
age and  began  preaching.  They  had  a  religious  service, 
which  lasted  from  7  to  11  o'clock  A.  m.  In  the  after- 
noon he  again  returned  to  her  castle  and  found  Elizabeth 
16 


234  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMAXY. 

had  invited  her  intimate  friend,  the  Countess  of  Horn, 
and  several  others,  to  service.  He  held  services  there  till 
7  p.  M.,  and  all,  both  preacher  and  hearers,  were  deeply 
affected.  The  next  day  at  9  A.  m.  he  held  a  service  again, 
all  the  Countess'  servants  being  present.  In  the  afternoon 
he  fulfilled  his  promise  to  her  to  narrate  the  story  of  his 
conversion  to  the  Quaker  faith,  together  with  the  perse- 
cutions he  had  suffered  for  it.  After  supper  wth  her,  he 
again  continued  the  story  of  his  conversion  until  11  p.  m. 
On  the  next  day,  the  last  of  their  stay,  not  only  the  resi- 
dents of  the  castle,  but  also  the  inhabitants  of  the  town 
were  present  at  service.  Penn  preached  with  great  power, 
so  that  the  Princess  was  so  overcome  witli  her  feelings 
that  she  could  hardly  give  expression  to  her  words  when 
she  bade  him  good-bye.  On  his  return  from  south  Ger- 
many, he  again  visited  her  and  held  meetings  in  her  cas- 
tle as  before.  He  found  there  the  Count  of  Dohna,  one 
of  the  prominent  nobles  in  the  Brandenburg  court. 
Dohna  and  he  soon  got  into  a  debate  about  the  nature  of 
Christianity  and  conversion.  Penn  gave  an  account  of 
his  withdrawal  from  the  world  in  order  to  become  a  Qua- 
ker. Dohna  then  attacked  the  peculiar  custom  of  the 
Quakers  in  never  lifting  their  hats,  not  even  to  Kings. 
Penn  tried  to  show  him  that  such  a  custom  was  ^*  a  weed 
of  degeneracy,  a  mere  fleshly  honor,"  that  it  often  covered 
insincerity,  and  that  the  hat  should  be  lifted  to  none  but 
God  alone  when  taken  off  in  God's  house.     After  he  had 


PENN   AND    ELIZABETH.  235 

gone  away^  the  Princess  corresponded  with  him  nntil  her 
death  in  1680.  Penn  Avas  greatly  affected  by  her  death, 
for  he  had  a  trne  regard  for  her.  When  he  published  the 
second  edition  of  his  work,  "  No  Cross,  no  Crown,"  he 
perpetuated  her  memory  by  inserting  her  name  among 
the  ancient  and  modern  benefactors  of  mankind. 

She  was  the  brightest  light  of  the  Palatinate  house 
since  Elector  Frederick  III.,  who  ordered  the  composi- 
tion of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  To  a  mind  of  unusual 
ability  she  added  the  graces  of  piety,  which  beautified 
and  sanctified  it.  It  was  an  interesting  coincidence  that 
Penn  came  in  contact  with  her  just  at  the  time  that  he 
was  about  laying  out  Pennsylvania,  for  whose  principles 
of  religious  liberty  her  little  abbey  of  Herford  might  well 
serve  as  a  pattern.  Penn  amply  repaid  the  debt  to  her 
and  the  Reformed  Church  by  receiving  her  brethren  of 
the  faith  into  Pennsylvania,  and  making  it  the  birth- 
place of  the  German  Reformed  Church  in  the  United 
States. 


CHAPTER  I.— SECTION  III. 

THE  REIGN  OF  ELECTOR  CHARLES. 

When  Elector  Charles  Lewis  died^  his  only  son, 
Charles,  ascended  the  throne.  He  was  a  sickly  youth, 
over  whom  death,  like  the  sword  of  Damocles,  seemed  to 
hang  already.  Although  surrounded  by  the  splendors  of 
the  court,  still  he  had  an  unpleasant  boyhood.  He 
deeply  mourned  the  disgrace  of  his  mother,  when  his 
father  cast  her  aside.  He  was  not  happy  in  his  surround- 
ings, for  the  children  of  his  father's  second  marriage  were 
not  congenial.  Their  splendid  physical  strength  and 
health  made  him  envious.  Besides,  he  saw  that  his  father 
thought  more  of  them  than  of  him.  He  grew  up,  there- 
fore, sickly  and  despondent,  with  a  cloud  hanging  over 
his  life.  He  was  married  to  a  Princess  of  Denmark,  but 
she  proved  uncongenial.  As  the  result  of  all  these  unto- 
ward events,  he  was  not  the  man  for  the  hour.  Europe 
was  just  entering  upon  the  stormy  period  at  the  close  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  and  the  Palatinate  needed  a 
leader — a  man  of  action,  so  as  to  prevent  any  further 
French  aggressions.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  melan- 
choly, and  fond  of  retirement.  As  he  was  not  well,  he 
gave  most  of  his  affairs  into  the  charge  of  his  ministers. 


CALVIXISTIC   REFORMS.  237 

As  long  as  his  Councillor  Hachenberg  lived,  all  went 
well.  But  he  died  seven  months  after  Charles  ascended 
the  throne.  So  Charles  appointed  as  his  prime  minister 
Langhanns,  his  court  preacher,  a  man  who  seems  to  have 
been  more  gifted  with  worldly  wisdom  than  with  spirit- 
ual-mindedness. 

Langhanns,  however,  was  in  his  religious  belief  a 
staunch  Calvinist,  and  through  him  there  was  a  revival 
of  Calvinism  in  the  Palatinate.  For  Elector  Charles 
Lewis,  especially  after  his  marriage  with  the  Lady  of 
Degenfeld,  who  was  a  Lutheran,  was  more  and  more 
inclined  to  union  with  the  Lutherans,  and  he  had  given 
up  some  Calvinistic  customs,  as  well  as  introduced  others 
that  savored  of  union.  Now,  however,  his  son  aimed  to 
bring  back  the  Palatinate  to  the  Calvinism  of  the  preced- 
ing century,  when  Elector  Frederick  III.  was  on  the 
throne  and  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  was  written. 
Many  of  the  Reformed  customs  and  institutions,  which 
had  fallen  into  disuse  through  Elector  Charles  Lewis, 
were  now  revived.  The  Elector  re-introduced  the  power 
of  the  Presbyterium  in  the  congregation,  giving  to  them 
the  care  over  Church  discipline.  He  ordered  the  visita- 
tion of  the  churches,  w^hich  his  worldly-minded  and  penu- 
rious father  thought  too  expensive,  and  had  given  up. 
He  enlarged  the  Sapienz  College,  so  that  it  could  have 
forty  students.  He  appointed  regular  meetings  of  the 
Classes,  in  place  of  special  Synods  held  only  occasionall}', 


238  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

and  made  them  more  of  a  devotional  character,  than  for 
business  alone.  As  Elector  Frederick  III.  had  gladly 
received  French  refugees  into  his  land  after  the  massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew,  so  he  received  French  refugees  after 
the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  He  also,  with 
the  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  interceded  for  the  Reformed 
of  Hungary  (who  were  oppressed  by  the  Catholics)  and 
of  Frankford  on  the  Main  (who  were  oppressed  by  the 
Lutherans).  But  his  most  important  act  to  the  Reformed 
Church  Avas  the  revival  of  the  Reformed  consistory. 
This  organization,  which  stood  at  the  head  of  the  Palati- 
nate Church,  had  been  reduced  by  his  father,  for  the  sake 
of  economy,  to  four  members.  He  enlarged  it  to  its 
original  size  of  seven  (six  members  and  a  secretary).  His 
organization  of  the  consistory  and  of  the  Classes  made 
them  a  bulwark  to  protect  the  Reformed  Church  against 
Romish  aggressions.  Without  these  reforms,  the 
Reformed  Church  would  never  have  been  able  to  with- 
stand the  terrible  storms  of  the  century  that  followed. 
The  Reformed  Church,  therefore,  owes  him  a  debt  of 
gratitude  for  what  lie  did  for  her  during  his  brief  reign. 
Indeed,  he  seemed  to  take  little  interest  in  anything 
except  religious  affairs.  He  went  so  far  as  to  publish  a 
theological  work,  ^'  Philothei  symbola  Christiania,''  in 
1672. 

It  soon  became   evident  that   Elector  Charles  would 
not  live  long.     As  he  had  no  children,  there  came  up  the 


DEATH    OF    ELECTOR   CHARLES.  239 

question  of  his  successor.  This  was  very  unfortuuate  for 
the  Reformed,  for  it  would  put  their  land  under  the 
control  of  a  Romish  Prince,  the  nearest  of  kin,  the  Duke 
of  Pfalz  Neuburg.  Elector  Charles,  however,  tried  to  do 
the  best  he  could  for  his  Reformed  people.  Negotiations 
were  entered  into  between  himself  and  his  cousin,  the 
Duke  of  Pfalz  Neuburg,  and  a  compact  was  agreed  upon, 
known  as  the  Halle  Recess.  In  it  the  Duke  of  Pfalz 
Neuburg  promised  to  give  toleration  to  the  Reformed,  as 
the  Peace  of  Westphalia  had  demanded.  He  also 
guaranteed  that  the  Reformed  consistory  and  university 
were  to  remain  in  the  same  condition,  as  they  were  during 
Elector  Charles'  reign.  This  compact  was  signed  by  the 
Duke  in  May,  1685.  But  when  it  was  brought  back  to 
Heidelberg,  to  be  signed  by  Elector  Charles,  alas,  he  died 
before  doing  so.  And  with  his  death  were  buried  the 
hopes  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  the  Palatinate.  When 
his  death  was  announced  from  the  pulpit,  it  is  said  the 
congregation  wept  aloud,  so  that  the  minister  could  be 
heard  with  difficulty.  The  poor  Reformed  people  seemed 
instinctively  to  know  of  the  doom  that  was  awaiting  them 
under  the  Romish  Electors,  as  the  night  of  a  century 
began  to  fall  upon  them. 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE  POLITICAL  REIGN  OF  TERROR. 


SECTION   I. 

THE  REIGN  OF  ELECTOR  PHILLIP  WILLIAM. 

The  year  1685  which  brought  such  terrible  woes  to  the 
Eeformed  of  France,  was  to  bring  to  their  brethren  of  the 
Palatinate  the  beginning  of  something  almost  as  bad.  No 
sooner  had  Elector  Charles  died  than  troubles  arose.  For 
other  claimants  came  forward  for  his  throne.  King  Louis 
Xiy .  declared  that  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  was 
a  nearer  relative  than  Elector  Phillip  William,  for  he  was 
■a  brother-in-law  to  the  late  Elector,  while  Phillip  William 
was  only  a  cousin.  This  was  a  false  claim.  For  the  law 
of  the  Palatinate  had  always  made  the  females  w^aive  their 
claims  as  long  as  a  male  of  their  line  lived.  Beside  Lise 
Lotte,  the  wife  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  had,  at  her  mar- 
riage, renounced  all  claims  to  the  throne  by  an  express 
stipulation.  But  the  injustice  of  the  claim  did  not  stop 
King  Louis  XIV.  of  France.  It  took  more  than  an 
injustice  to  stop  him.  He  was  however  held  back  for  two 
years,  it  is  said,  by  the  intercession  of  Lise  Lotte. 

The  new  Elector  came  to  Heidelberg  in  the  autumn  of 


ROMISH    INNOVATIONS.  241 

1685.  He  at  once  gave  assurances  to  the  Reformed,  that 
he  would  give  them  full  liberty.  In  a  meeting  which  he 
had  with  the  Reformed  consistory,  October  30,  he  prom- 
ised them  his  protection,  and  he  gave  a  written  assurance 
to  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  the  great  protector  of  the 
Reformed.  Still  he  began  making  some  very  significant 
and  unpleasant  changes.  He  himself  may  have  been 
inclined  to  toleration,  yet  the  next  year  the  Jesuits  came 
into  his  land  and  began  to  influence  him.  The  Danish 
minister  brought  unjust  charges  against  the  late  prime 
minister  of  Elector  Charles,  Langhanns,  that  he  had 
alienated  the  affections  of  Charles  from  his  wife.  For 
this  he  was  found  guilty,  his  goods  were  confiscated,  he 
was  put  into  the  pillory,  and  after  suffering  many  indig- 
nities, was  ordered  to  be  imprisoned  for  twenty  years. 
However,  three  years  later  he  was  released  by  the  French 
from  his  prison  at  Zwingenberg,  and  he  escaped  to  Basle, 
where  he  died,  1691.  This  unjust  treatment  of  a  Calvin- 
istic  minister  was  ominous.  The  Elector  ordered  the  new 
Gregorian  calender,  which  was  looked  upon  by  the  Pro- 
testants as  a  Romish  innovation,  to  be  introduced  into  his 
land.  He  did  this  thirteen  years  before  it  was  generally 
introduced  by  other  Protestant  lands.  This  caused  great 
excitement.  He  also  began  giving  greater  liberties  to 
Catholics.  According  to  the  peace  of  Westphalia,  a 
Romish  Prince  in  a  Protestant  land  had  only  the  right  of 
having  Romish  service  in  his  castle  chapel,  yet  the  Elector 


242  THE   KEFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

began  building  Romish  cloisters  in  Heidelberg.  He 
ordered  the  Carmelite  church  to  be  built,  and  until  it  was 
finished,  he  took  away  the  choir  of  the  Garrison  church 
from  the  Reformed  and  gave  it  to  them.  He  also  took 
advantao-e  of  the  fact  that  the  Reformed  consistory  was 
just  then  without  a  head,  and  consisted  of  only  three  mem- 
bers, Fabricius  and  Burkhard  and  Naurath.  He  ordered 
the  consistory  not  to  make  any  appointments  without 
having  first  submitted  them  to  him.  In  1689,  he  went 
farther,  and  ordered  them  to  propose  two  names,  from 
which  he  was  to  choose.  All  this  was  an  infringement  on 
their  rights,  for  it  took  away  from  them  the  i>ower  of 
appointing  whom  they  pleased,  and  made  the  consistory  a 
creature  of  the  Elector.  In  1689  he  reduced  the  number 
of  pastors  and  teachers  by  sixty,  because,  he  said,  he  did 
not  have  money  enough  to  pay  them.  He  had  the  Re- 
formed minister  at  Frankenthal,  Reich,  arrested,  because 
he  preached  so  boldly  on  the  eightieth  answer  of  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism.  On  the  other  hand,  while  he 
lessened  the  freedom  of  the  Reformed,  he  increased  that 
of  the  Romanists.  He  aided  them  to  build  a  number  of 
churches  and  convents.  He  granted  Romish  worship 
where  only  six  persons  could  be  found  who  desired  it. 
Where  they  had  no  church,  he  gave  them  the  city  hall. 
The  Catholics  were  evidently  aiming  to  get  hold  of  the 
Reformed  churches. 


ROMISH    INNOVATIONS.  243 

The  methods  of  the  Romanists  remind  ns  of  the  old 
fable  of  the  camel  who  first  asked  to  be  allowed  to  put  his 
head  into  the  tent.  He  found  it  so  comfortable  there  that 
he  asked  to  be  allowed  to  put  his  neck  in,  and  then  his 
body,  until  there  was  no  room  in  the  tent  for  the  owner, 
and  he  had  to  go  outside.  This  method  the  Romanists 
took.  They  first  began  in  1686  and  1687  to  have  religious 
processions  through  the  streets.  Then  they  demanded 
the  use  of  the  Reformed  bells,  that  they  might  be  rung 
for  Romish  service.  This  was  a  small  matter,  but  it  was 
the  entering  wedge  to  greater  demands.  They  then 
demanded  the  use  of  Reformed  cemeteries,  and  began 
their  processions  there.  All  this  was  preparatory  to 
what  took  place  under  the  next  Elector,  namely  the 
demand  to  use  their  churches.  Having  gained  the  use  of 
the  Reformed  churches,  they  would  soon  crowd  their 
services  so  much  that  there  was  no  room  for  any  Reformed 
services,  and  so  the  Reformed  were  to  be  entirely  crowded 
out.  This  was  their  policy.  And,  although  it  took 
years  to  bring  it  about,  yet  they  began  it  in  this  reign. 
They  began  with  the  possession  of  the  cemeteries,  to  end 
by  and  by  in  the  possession  of  the  churches.  We  have 
called  attention  to  this  plan  of  the  Romanists  thus  early, 
because  it  is  interesting  to  watch  the  development  of  their 
plan  in  the  after-history  of  the  Palatinate. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  II. 

THE  FRENCH  WAR  OF  1688-89. 

These  ecclesiastical  oppressions  were  the  least  of  the 
sufferings  of  the  Reformed.  The  year  1688  seemed  to  be 
ominous  all  over  Europe.  It  looked  as  if  a  second  relig- 
ious war  were  about  to  break  out  betv/een  the  Catholics 
and  the  Protestants,  with  England,  Holland  and  Protes- 
tant Germany  against  Catholic  Germany,  France,  Austria 
and  Spain.  In  England  the  Protestants  gained  the 
advantage  by  the  battle  of  the  Boyne.  But  on  the  continent, 
especially  in  the  Palatinate,  the  Reformed  suffered 
severely.  If  the  century  that  followed  may  be  called  a 
century  of  night,  the  first  five  years  were  a  period  of 
midnight.     The  night  began  with  midnight. 

In  1688  King  Louis  XIV.  of  France  grew  weary  of 
w^aiting  for  the  Palatinate  to  place  his  brother,  the  Duke 
of  Orleans,  on  its  throne.  And  he  suddenly  precipitated 
an  army  of  eighty  thousand  men  on  the  Palatinate, 
Avithin  the  short  period  of  seven  weeks,  and  changed  that 
paradise  into  a  desert.  The  Emperor  of  Germany,  who 
should  have  protected  the  Palatinate,  had  his  hands  full 
with  the  Turks  just  then,  and  could  do  nothing  to  help 
them ;    while   the  Palatinate   was  too  weak   in   itself  to 


FRENCH    CONQUESTS.  245 

hinder  these  magnificent  French  armies.  On  September 
24,  1688,  the  King  of  France  sent  a  manifesto,  which 
declared  that  Phillip  William  was  a  usurper,  and 
demanded  the  throne  for  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  While 
one  division  of  the  French  army  took  Kaiserlautern  by 
storm,  the  other  division  captured  Phillipsburg,  Worms, 
Spire.  All  the  large  towns  west  of  the  Rhine  were 
taken  and  had  to  receive   French  s^arrisons.     Then  Hei- 

CD 

delberg  was  threatened.  Many  of  the  upper  families  fled 
from  it  to  other  lands,  while  the  inhabitants  of  the  sur- 
rounding country  fled  into  it  for  safety.  The  city,  there- 
fore, became  so  full  that  they  were  quartered  on  the 
inhabitants.  Finally,  by  October  25,  Heidelberg  opened 
its  gates  to  the  French,  who  promised  that  the  city  and 
university  would  not  be  oppressed,  and  that  the  castle 
with  its  archives  would  be  held  sacred.  Manheim  made 
a  brave  resistance,  but  by  November  10  it,  too,  had  sur- 
rendered, and  Frankenthal  surrendered  November  18. 
At  Heidelberg,  although  the  French  had  agreed  not  to 
levy  any  contributions,  yet  they  demanded  80,000  livres 
within  eight  days,  or  they  would  destroy  the  city.  The 
inhabitants  sent  an  ambassador,  Weingart,  the  owner  of 
^^  the  hotel  of  Portugal,"  to  Paris  to  appeal  to  the  King  and 
to  get  Lise  Lotte  to  intercede  for  them.  But  it  was  all  in 
vain.  The  garrison  meanwhile  quartered  their  soldiers 
on  the  inhabitants  and  took  wliatever  they  wanted. 


246  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

Then  it  was  that  an  idea  struck  the  brain  of  King 
Louis  XIV.  more  worthy  of  the  Huns  and  Tartars  than 
of  "  that  most  Christian  King/'  as  he  was  called.  It  was 
to  change  the  Palatinate  into  a  waste.  Then,  if  he  kept 
it,  he  would  re-people  it  with  Catholics ;  or  if  he  lost  it, 
he  would  return  it  to  the  German  Emperor  an  Arabian 
desert.  At  any  rate,  as  he  had  driven  the  Reformed  out 
of  France,  he  determined  to  drive  them  out  of  the  Palati- 
nate. If  the  Palatinate  was  to  become  part  of  his  king- 
dom, he  did  not  want  the  Reformed  with  it.  It  is  said 
his  decision  was  precipitated  by  a  dispute  with  his  minis- 
ter, Louvois,  about  a  window  at  the  Trianon  at  Versailles, 
as  he  gave  the  awful  command,  ^^  De  Bruler  le  Palatinate" 
(ravage  the  Palatinate.)  Fearfully  was  this  carried  out. 
The  new  year  came,  and  it  ushered  into  the  Palatinate  a 
new  year  indeed — the  most  awful  of  the  awful  years  that 
land  had  ever  yet  experienced.  On  January  18  the  work 
of  the  ravage  began.  The  French,  contrary  to  their  agree- 
ment at  the  surrender  of  Heidelberg,  began  to  blow  up 
part  of  the  beautiful  castle,  and  to  destroy  the  gardens, 
orchards  and  vineyards  around  the  city.  The  near 
approach  of  the  Germans  made  the  French  general,  Melac, 
determine  that  if  he  had  to  leave  the  city  before  the  Ger- 
man army,  he  would  leave  it  a  mass  of  ruins,  and  the 
country  for  ten  miles  around  a  barren  waste.  He  said, 
"  If  tlie  German  Emperor  wants  the  land,  I  will  carry  the 
torch  before  him."     The  next  day  the  French  began  to 


OPPRESSIONS   OF   THE    FRENCH.  247 

fire  the  villages  around  the  city.  In  all  directions  could 
be  seen  the  flames  of  burning  villages.  Having  burned 
the  villages  along  the  I^eckar,  on  both  sides  of  the  river, 
the  wild  hordes  marched  up  the  Bergstrasse,  the  beautiful 
road  to  Frankford.  When  they  came  to  Handschuheim, 
the  largest  toAvn  on  it,  they  burned  it,  so  that  nothing  was 
left ;  and  some  citizens  of  Heidelberg,  who  had  fled  there 
for  safety,  were  shot.  A  pathetic  story  has  come  down  to 
us  that  the  poor  orphans  in  the  Reformed  orphanage  at 
Handschuheim  were  compelled  to  flee  almost  naked  across 
the  snow  to  Schonau,  when  it  was  found  that  two  of  them 
had  found  their  graves  in  the  snow.  The  French  shut  up 
the  magistrates  of  Handschuheim  naked  in  the  bitter  cold 
church  for  three  days,  until  they  were  almost  frozen.  On 
the  road  from  Dossenheim  to  Neuenhain  52  bodies  lay 
naked,  and  were  gathered  up  and  buried  November  3. 

And  now  came  the  time  when  Heidelberg:  was  to 
receive  its  baptism  of  fire — its  crown  of  suffering.*  On 
February  16  the  thick  tower  of  the  castle  was  blown  up, 
but  ]\Iarch  2  was  destined  to  be  the  date  of  the  city's  great 
destruction.  At  5  A.  m.  the  castle  garrison,  900  strong, 
was  gathered  in  the  open  court  of  the  castle  with  its  bag- 
gage ready  to  depart.  At  6  A.  m.  three  shots  were  fired 
from  the  apothecary's  tower.  This  was  the  signal  for  the 
destruction,  which  ended  only  with  the  departure  of  the 

*  For  an  interesting  account  of  the  destruction  of  Heidelberg  during  the 
wars  of  1688  and  1693,  see  the  novel  "  Die  Rose  von  Heidelberg,"  by  Robiano. 


248  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Frencli  troops  at  noon.  At  7, A.  m.  the  artillery  commis- 
sioner appeared  in  the  arsenal  with  pitch,  matches  and 
straw  wisps.  The  castle  caught  fire  rapidly,  and  in  half 
an  hour  was  in  flames.  The  garrison  remained  in  the 
court  of  the  castle  till  the  roof  fell  in,  and  then  marched 
out,  leaving  six  miners  behind  to  blow  up  the  castle. 
That  anything  of  the  castle  was  saved,  was  due  to  the 
few  people  who  remained  behind  in  it,  and  who  tried  to 
save  it ;  but  a  man  and  two  women  lost  their  lives  in  the 
flames.  And  so  the  castle,  which  it  had  taken  centuries 
to  build,  was  destroyed  in  a  single  morning. 

Then  came  the  city's  turn.  The  soldiers  went  through 
the  town,  putting  burning  material  into  the  houses  and 
setting  them  on  fire.  Fortunately  the  commander  gave 
orders  that  though  the  city  be  burned,  the  churches  should 
be  spared.  The  cruel  general,  Melac  (the  Tilly  of  this 
war — the  Duke  of  Alva  of  his  age),  sat  on  his  horse  in 
the  market  square,  enjoying  the  spectacle  with  the  great- 
est pleasure — like  Nero,  who  cruelly  fiddled  while  Rome 
was  burning.* 

*  As  the  city  hall  lay  in  ashes,  he  stooped  to  a  very  low  species  of  revenge. 
Weingart,  who  had  been  ambassador  to  Paris,  had  already  been  terribly 
oppressed  by  having  no  less  than  75  men  quartered  on  him  for  four  days,  and 
had  to  pay  6S  gulden  so  as  not  to  have  his  house  plundered.  During  the  con- 
flagration Melac  came  to  his  door  with  150  dragoons,  and  as  Weingart  would 
not  open,  he  cut  doAvn  the  door,  entered  the  house,  broke  open  the  chests,  took 
the  linen  and  the  clothes  in  them,  and  set  the  house  on  fire  with  bed  clothes 
and  benches.  And  as  the  great  stable  and  the  back  part  of  the  house  burned, 
Melac  said  to  him,  "  This  is  my  recompense  to  you  for  your  mission  to  Pari?.'* 


DESTRUCTION   OF   HEIDELBERG.  249 

But  not  all  the  officers  were  as  hard-hearted  as  Melac. 
De  Tesse,  when  the  mayor  fell  at  his  feet  to  plead  for 
mercy  to  the  city,  said  he  was  very  sorry  to  have  to 
burn  the  city,  but  it  was  the  strict  order  of  his  King. 
Still  de  Tesse  secretly  gave  them  permission  to  put  out 
the  flames,  provided  they  left  smoke  ascend.  He  allowed 
them  to  kindle  a  harmless  fire,  which  the  people  made  by 
filling  their  windows  with  damp  straw  and  lighting  it, 
thus  causing  a  dense  smoke  to  go  from  the  house  and 
give  the  appearance  of  a  great  fire  within.  But  he  had 
to  conceal  his  mercy.  To  the  royal  attendant  of  the 
King  he  exaggerated  the  destruction  of  the  city  by  saying 
that  half  of  the  town  was  in  ashes,  when  only  thirty 
houses  in  the  old  city  were  entirely  destroyed,  although 
many  were  damaged.  It  was  only  owing  to  the  pity  of 
these  officers,  to  the  mediation  of  the  Eomish  orders  and 
the  activity  of  the  people  that  the  whole  city  was  not 
destroyed.  At  noon  the  French  army  marched  away, 
taking  with  them  12  hostages,  among  them  the  Eeformed 
pastor  Achenbach.  • 

Then  came  Manheim's  turn.  The  French  commander, 
on  March  3,  notified  the  inhabitants  that  their  town  must 
be  destroyed.  If  they  would  help,  he  would  give  them 
twenty  days,  and  if  they  would  seek  an  asylum  in  France, 
he  would  aid  them  to  get  there.  But  the  inhabitants 
promptly  refused  to  tear  down  their  own  houses,  and  fled 
in  haste.  So  on  March  5  the  soldiers  began  to  break 
17 


250  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY.  ' 

down  the  houses,   and  the  next  day  burn    them.     And 
while  the  inhabitants  in  wild  throngs  rushed  across  the 
Neckar  bridge,  the  city  and  castle  were  changed   into  a 
mass  of  rubbish  and  stones,  the  churches  destroyed,  and 
the   body  of  the  Raugrafin  torn   from   its  grave  in  the 
Concordia  church.     This  flourishing  city  remained  for  a 
long  time  ruined.     Two  hundred  families  went  to  Magde- 
burg, and  the  rest  wandered  homeless  hither  and  thither, 
living  on   charity.     A  citizen   who    returned   afterwards 
saw  nothing  but  a  stone  heap,  in  which  it  w^as  difficult  to 
make  out  where  the  streets  had  been.     Thus  destruction 
was   carried    on   along   the   Rhine    from   Treves   to   the 
Ortenau.     At  Spire  the  commandant  ordered  all  out  of 
the  town  within  six  days,   but  the   next  day  the  whole 
town,  with  its  twenty  towers  and  churches,  was  given  to 
the  flames.     General  Montclas  had  told  the  citizens  that 
they   could   bring   their  goods   into  the  cathedral,  as  it 
would  be  saved ;  but  when  it  was  filled  with  inflammable 
material,  the  soldiers  set  it  on  fire.     Sacred  things  were 
no  more  safe  than  secular  and  profane.     The  church   rel- 
ics were  stolen,  and  the  bodies  of  the  old  German  Emper- 
ors, before  whose  power  in  their  lives  little  France  had 
trembled,   they   tore   from  their  tombs  and  played  ten- 
pins   with   their   skulls.      Worms,    after   suifering  great 
oppressions  from  its  garrison,  was  notified,  May  23,  that 
the  town  must  be  laid  even  with  the  ground.     When  the 
people  wailed  and  cried,  the  Duke  de  Erequi  comforted 


RAVAGE  OF  THE  PALATINATE.         251 

them  with  the  thought  that  their  lot  was  to  be  shared  by 
1200  towns.  For  many  years,  to  show  their  hatred  of 
their  cruel  oppressors,  the  Palatines  would  name  their 
dogs  after  the  French  generals  Melac  and  Montclas.  On 
Tuesday  after  Whitsunday  they  burnt  Worms,  except  the 
cathedral,  while  they  drowned  the  cries  of  the  inhabit- 
ants by  the  music  of  bands  and  the  shooting  of  cannons. 
If  great  cities  suffered,  what  was  to  be  expected  in  the 
villages  and  country  districts  ?  There  the  destruction  was 
continued  till  August.  Great  as  had  be  en  the  oppressions 
during  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  they  had  never  been  car- 
ried on  in  such  a  systematic  or  thorough  way  as  now. 
The  French  tore  up  the  vinestalks  and  cut  down  the  fruit 
trees.  Hardly  a  town  was  to  be  seen,  and  villages  and 
towns  lay  under  rubbish.  Twelve  hundred  villages  were 
razed  to  the  ground  and  40,000  inhabitants  robbed  of  all 
they  had.  The  Emperor  of  Germany  was  right  when  he 
called  this  act  of  the  French  King  a  barbarity,  which  even 
the  infidel  Turks  would  not  allow.  Since  the  days  of  the 
Huns,  Europe  had  not  been  so  devastated.  Melac  was  a 
second  Attila — no  grass  grew  under  his  feet.  Though 
two  centuries  have  passed  away,  the  marks  of  this  devas- 
tation can  still  be  noted,  for  the  villages  between  Treves 
and  the  Ortenau  are  all  new,  having  been  rebuilt  since 
the  war. 

If  the  sufferings  of  the  people  were  so  great,  still  more 
terrible  were  the    sufferings   of  the  Reformed.      If  the 


252  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

troops  spared  not  their  co-religionists,  the  Komanists, 
much  less  did  they  spare  the  Reformed.*  The  property 
of  the  Reformed  was  taken  from  them,  especially  in  Ger- 
mersheim.  In  many  places  Romish  service  was  forcibly 
introduced,  and  parents  were  compelled  to  send  their 
children  to  Catholic  service.  In  some  places,  when  the 
older  children  refused,  they  were  unmercifully  beaten 
Avith  rods  or  driven  out  half  naked  in  the  winter  from  the 
villages  into  the  woods,  so  that  some  perished  in  the  snow, 
because  of  the  cold.  In  many  places  there  was  no  church 
building  left  for  them  after  the  terrible  conflagrations  that 
burned  up  everything,  so  the  congregations  had  to  wor- 
ship in  the  open  air.  Immense  multitudes  went  down 
the  Rhine.  Utterly  destitute,  they  arrived  at  Holland, 
and  encamped  by  thousands  in  the  environs  of  Amster- 
dam and  Rotterdam.  The  Dutch  did  all  they  could  to 
help  them,  their  persecuted  brethren  in  the  faith.  And 
yet  in  the  midst  of  all  their  suiferings,  their  pastor  at 
Heidelberg,  Achenbach,  a  Calvinist,  would  comfort  them 
with  the  remembrance  that  they  were  the  elect  of  God, 
whom  He  Avould  not  forsake. 

*  When  the  Reformed  at  Christmas  morning,  1689,  went  to  service  in  the 
Holy  Ghost  church  at  Heidelberg,  they  found  the  door  shut  and  a  French 
guard  placed  at  it.  The  soldiers  plagued  them  by  sending  them  from  one  door 
to  the  other,  until  at  last  they  found  that  the  only  entrance  open  was  to  the 
Romish  service  in  the  choir. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  III. 
THE  WAR  OF  1693-4. 
The  war  of  1688-9  was  over,  and  yet  the  war  was  not 
over.  For  in  1691  the  French  army  was  still  in  the 
Palatinate,  west  of  the  Rhine.  And  east  of  the  Rhine 
the  two  armies  marched  and  countermarched,  and  the 
land  which  had  suffered  under  one  army,  fairly  groaned 
under  two.  From  Bretten  to  Manheim  the  German  army 
had  its  quarters.  They  hastily  built  Manheim,  8000 
men  laboring  at  it  daily.  Heidelberg  was  so  far  rebuilt 
that  it  was  defensible  as  a  fort.  Finally,  in  May,  1693, 
the  French  army  again  approached  Heidelberg,  to  com- 
plete what  they  had  left  undone  in  1689.  The  city  could 
have  been  defended  until  aid  came,  for  the  German  army 
was  not  far  away.  But  its  Commander-in-chief,  Eber- 
hard  of  Heidersdorf,  proved  a  traitor.  No  sooner  did  he 
hear  that  the  French  army  was  approaching,  than  he  sent 
all  his  baggage  across  the  Neckar.  This  cowardly  act 
greatly  disheartened  the  citizens.  All  who  were  able 
began  to  leave  the  city  and  cross  the  Neckar  bridge. 
Then  the  commandant,  like  some  Jewish  usurer,  deter- 
mined  to  make  money  out  of  their  necessities.  He  refused 
to  let  any  of  them  leave  the  city  and  cross  the  Neckar 


254  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

without  a  passport,  and  no  one  could  get  a  passport  unless 
he  paid  from  twenty  to  thirty  thalers  for  it.  On  May  18 
a  strong  French  corps  appeared  and  began  to  garrison  the 
heights  back  of  the  city,  and  also  the  west  bank  of  the 
Neckar.  Then  General  Melac  came  with  3000  men  and 
took  possession  of  the  King's  Seat  on  the  top  of  the 
mountain.  On  May  21  and  22  the  French  made  a  pre- 
tended attack — a  sort  of  blind  alarm.  At  this  the  trai- 
torous commander  withdrew  his  troops  from  the  town, 
the  Star  fortification  and  Klingenthor  up  to  the  castle» 
He  thus  laid  open  to  the  enemy  the  most  important  points, 
as  if  to  show  them  how  to  get  in.  To  still  further  crip- 
ple his  own  troops,  he  caused  twenty-three  of  his  own 
guns  to  be  spiked.  His  officers  and  soldiers  were  aston- 
ished at  all  this,  and  made  bitter  complaints  against  him. 
Under  Colonel  Avendal  they  would  have  fortified  these 
places  again,  but  before  they  could  do  so,  the  French 
entered  the  middle  gate,  for  the  commandant  had  neg- 
lected (perhaps  intentionally)  to  lift  the  bridge  and  let 
the  portcullis  fall.  The  entrance  of  the  French  was  the 
signal  for  a  general  demoralization.  Soldiers  left  their 
posts,  citizens  left  their  homes,  and  all  who  could,  climbed 
the  hill  to  the  castle,  to  find  safety  there.  Thus  the  city 
was  basely  surrendered  to  the  enemy  and  left  to  their 
mercy,  which  was  no  mercy  at  all.  Five  regiments  plun- 
dered the  town  ;  and  whatever  of  cruelty  they  had  left 
undone  in  1688  they  did  now.     They    went  through  the 


THE   CAPTURE   OF    HEIDELBERG.  255 

town  murdering  the  men,  ill-treating  the  women  and  setting 
the  town  on  fire  at  various  places.  The  people  they  met 
in  the  streets  they  drove  into  the  church  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  until  it  was  as  full  as  it  could  possibly  be,  the  men, 
women  and  children  huddled  together  like  sheep  in  a  pen. 
Then  they  locked  them  in  and  set  the  church-roof  and 
steeple  on  fire.  There  was  such  a  wailing  and  crying,  says 
a  witness,  as  would  make  a  stone  weep.  But  all  this  did 
not  produce  any  effect  upon  the  enemy,  until  the  steeple  of 
the  church  was  in  flames,  and  the  bells,  melting  through 
the  heat,  threatened  to  fall  down.  Then  it  was  that  the 
French  opened  the  doors,  but  some  persons  were  found 
dead  from  fright.  They  drove  the  people  into  the  garden 
of  the  neighboring  Capuchin  cloister,  to  treat  them  to  suf- 
ferings worse  than  death.  The  body  of  King  Rupert  was 
torn  from  its  resting  place  in  the  church.  And  Elector 
Charles  Lewis'  presentiment  that  his  body  would  not  be 
left  undi'sturbed  in  his  grave,  was  fulfilled.  The  bodies 
of  the  Princes  buried  in  the  choir  were  dragged  to  the 
street,  to  be  robbed  and  the  bones  scattered  about  the 
market  place  around  the  church.  And  so  the  destruction 
continued  till  the  whole  town,  except  a  few  houses  and 
the  churches,  was  laid  in  ashes.  None  of  the  old  build- 
ings could  be  distinguished,  except  the  general  direction 
of  the  streets.  The  only  private  building  that  outlasted 
the  storm  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  the  sieges  of 
1688  and  1693,  was  the  Knights'  Hall  in  the  open  square. 


256  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

opposite  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  a  building  of 
remarkable  architectural  beauty  designed  by  Belier,  a 
French  refugee,  in  1592,  and  which  is  still  standing. 
The  castle  also  surrendered  the  next  day.  The  French 
remained  in  the  town  till  September.  The  city  was  a 
mass  of  rubbish  and  ashes.  Even  the  walls  could  not  be 
traced.  The  Otto  Henry's  building  was  burned  and  most 
of  the  forts  blown  up.  What  population  there  was,  fled. 
And  yet  King  Louis  XIY.  celebrated  a  Te  Deum  in 
Versailles  over  these  barbarities.  On  the  other  hand,  Lise- 
Lotte,  whose  unhappy  marriage  had  been  the  cause  of  all 
this,  wrote  that  for  more  than  six  months,  whenever  she 
closed  her  eyes  in  sleep,  she  seemed  to  see  the  familiar 
places  at  Heidelberg  in  flames,  and  would  start  up  sud- 
denly in  fright  and  weep  by  the  hour  until  she  choked 
w4th  sobs.  The  treacherous  commandant  was  court- 
marshalled  and  cashiered,  but  that  did  not  repair  the  dam- 
age done  to  Heidelberg.  It  was  destroyed  for  many 
years.  The  next  year,  in  February,  a  small  French  force 
appeared  and  destroyed  what  was  left.  What  the  French 
did  at  Heidelberg,  they  repeated  at  Spire,  and  the  bodies 
of  the  old  Emperors  were  despoiled  by  order  of  the 
French  commandant,  named  Henz.* 

*  At  the  same  date,  a  hundred  years  later,  when  the  tombs  of  the  French 
Kings  were  despoiled  at  St.  Denis  in  Paris,  and  the  body  of  Louis  XIV.  torn 
from  its  grave,  the  leader  was  a  man  also  named  Henz.  Providence  thus 
revenged  itself  on  Louis  XIV.  for  his  barbarities  by  a  man  of  the  same  name. 


SUFFERINGS  OF  THE  REFORMED.        257 

But  the  greatest  sufferer  of  all  was  the  Reformed 
Church.  She  suffered  from  both  sides,  for  both  armies, 
the  German,  which  should  have  been  her  friend,  and  the 
French,  her  enemy,  combined  against  her.  The  Church, 
like  Heidelberg,  was  in  ruins  before  the  close  of  1693. 
One  hundred  Reformed  churches,  mainly  west  of  the 
Rhine,  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Romanists.  At  some 
places  the  people  were  severely  fined,  because  they  would 
not  go  to  Romish  service.  Sometimes  the  Romanists 
drove  the  people  into  the  church,  and  forced  the  wafer 
into  their  mouths.  The  Romish  priest  of  Erbisbitters- 
heim  put  on  the  clothes  of  a  French  officer,  and,  at  the 
point  of  a  pistol,  drove  Nisius,  the  Reformed  minister  at 
Spendlingen,  out  of  the  parsonage.  Two  hundred  pastors 
and  schoolmasters  were  lost  to  the  Reformed  Church  in  a 
few  years,  and  those  ^vho  remained  had  to  serve  three  or 
more  parishes.  Many  of  the  Reformed  ministers  were 
imprisoned,  merely  at  the  complaint  of  the  monks,  and 
the  French  commandant  at  Ebernburg  formed  a  court 
through  his  own  Confessor,  before  which  the  Reformed 
ministers  and  teachers,  arrested  on  the  slightest  charges, 
had  to  buy  their  release  with  a  piece  of  gold.  The 
various  members  of  the  Reformed  consistory  were  scat- 
tered. It  had  dwindled  down  to  two  men.  One  of 
them,  Salmuth,  lived  at  distant  Nuremberg,  too  far  away 
to  give  aid ;  the  other,  John  Lewis  Fabricius,  had  been 
compelled  to  flee  to  Frankford. 


258  THE    EEFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Professor    Fabricius,    the   rector    of    the   univei-sity, 
deserves  special  mention  for  his  constancy  and  self-deny- 
ing devotion  to  the  Eeformed  Church  of  the  Palatinate. 
When  the  French  armies  began  to  threaten  Heidelberg,  he 
saw  that  they  had  broken  all  pledges,  and  he  could  no 
longer  protect  the  Reformed,  and  that  there  was  danger 
that  they  would  take  him  as  rector  of  the  university  to 
France  as  a  hostage.     So  he  asked  the  canton  of  SchafF- 
hausen  in  Switzerland,  where  he  was  born  and  of  which 
he  was  a  citizen,   to  intercede   for  him  with  the  French 
King  and  get  him  a  safe  conduct,  so  that  he  could  leave 
Heidelberg.     He  was  fortunate  in  getting  it  und  being 
able  to  leave  Heidelberg  just  before  the  French  came  in 
1689,  or  they  would  have  taken  him  prisoner,  as  they  did 
his  colleague,  Frederick  Mieg  and  other  Eeformed  pastors. 
He  went  to  Frankford  and  then  to  Schaff  hausen,  to  thank 
that  city  for  saving  him  from  the  French.    He  Avas  received 
in  Switzerland  with  great  honor ;  Professor  Heidegger  of 
Zurich,  his  friend,  coming  to  Schaif  hausen  to  meet  him. 
And  when  he  went  to  Zurich,  he  was  welcomed  by  Antis- 
tes  Klingler,in  a  speech  which  compared  him  to  a  second 
Peter,  escaped  from  prison.     The  Elector  having  asked 
him  to  return  to  Heidelberg,  after  the  French  had  left  in 
1689,  he  again  assumed  control  of  the  Reformed  Church. 
About  this  time  he  received  a  flattering  call  to  be  professor 
of  theology  at  Leyden,  but  although  he  would  have  liked 
to  go  there,  he  refused  it  for  the  sake  of  the  suffering 


PROFESSOR   JOHN    LEWIS   FABRICIUS. 


LABORS   OF   FABRICIUS.  259 

Church  of  the  Palatinate,  especially  since  she  had  been 
deprived  of  her  best  ministers.  When  the  French  again 
threatened  Heidelberg,  he  retired  to  Eberbach,  and  then 
to  Frankford,  all  the  while  managing  for  the  Elector,  the 
affairs  of  the  Reformed  Church.  ^'  That  the  Reformed 
Church,"  says  his  biographer.  Professor  Heidegger,  "  did 
not  go  out  of  existence  during  this  troublesome  period, 
was  due  to  the  untiring  labors  and  great  zeal  of  Fabricius.'^ 
For  a  while  he  labored  with  no  compensation,  and  when  he 
could  no  longer  raise  funds  for  the  support  of  the  Reformed 
ministers  and  school  teachers,  he  made  an  appeal  to  his 
friends  in  Switzerland,  who  raised  annual  collections, 
1692-97.  Meanwhile  the  Romish  bishop  of  Vienna 
tried  to  entice  him  to  come  to  Vienna,  so  as  to  extort  con- 
cessions from  him  (as  head  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  the 
Palatinate),  that  would  weaken  that  Church,  but  he  refused 
to  go  to  Vienna.  So  the  bishop  traveled  all  the  way  to 
Heidelberg  to  meet  him,  but  Fabricius  would  make  no  con- 
cessions, and  the  Romish  schemer  had  to  retire  without 
having  accomplished  any  of  his  plans.  When  the  French 
again  threatened  Heidelberg  in  1693,  he  gathered  the 
archives  of  the  university  and  of  the  Reformed  Church 
together,  and  left  the  city.  May  8.  The  next  day  he 
returned,  in  order  to  save  the  university  library,  but  had 
to  go  away  without  it.  His  own  library  he  sacrificed  to 
save  the  archives  of  the  university  and  of  the  Reformed 
Church.     Had  he  waited  ten  days  later,  he  would  have 


260  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

been  shut  up  in  Heidelberg  to  suffer  all  the  atrocities  of 
the  French.  He  first  went  to  Eberbach,  and  then  to 
Frankford,  whither  he  brought  the  archives.  And  then, 
as  he  did  not  feel  quite  safe  there  with  them,  he  took  them 
to  Marburg  for  greater  safety.  He  immediately  began  to 
organize  the  University  of  Heidelberg  at  Frankford,  to 
show  the  enemies  that  the  Reformed  were  not  dismayed, 
and  that  the  Reformed  Church  of  the  Palatinate  had  not 
perished.  He  might  have  had  many  good  reasons  for 
giving  up  his  position.  The  churches  lay  in  ruins,  the 
people  were  scattered,  the  new  Elector  was  hostile  and 
aiding  the  Jesuits  who  were  coming  into  the  land  from  all 
sides.  His  friends  in  Switzerland  invited  him  to  spend 
the  remaining  years  of  his  life  with  them.  But  so  much 
the  more  did  he  feel  it  his  duty  to  remain  with  the 
oppressed  Reformed  Church  of  the  Palatinate.  None  or 
all  of  these  influences  could  move  him  from  his  post  of 
duty.  To  Heidegger  he  wrote,  ^'  I  have  made  up  my 
mind  to  hold  out  and  devote  what  there  is  left  of  my  life 
to  the  welfare  of  the  Church  of  the  Palatinate,  however 
dejected  it  may  be,  lest  it  fall  into  the  power  of  the 
monks.'^  Noble  man  !  he  deserves  a  memorial  from  the 
Reformed,  for  standing  in  the  breach  when  she  was  threat- 
ened with  destruction.  We  in  America  have  him  to  thank 
for  giving  the  Reformed  Church  of  the  Palatinate  con- 
tinuity of  existence,  so  that  out  of  that  church  might  come 
the  daughter  Church  of  the  United  States. 


THE    PEACE   OF   RYSWICK.  261 

The  Eeformed  pastor  of  Manheim,  Schmidmann,  also 
deserves  special  mention,  for  he  did  not  desert  his  congre- 
gation, even  when  the  town  was  entirely  destroyed.  He 
preached  in  the  ruins  and  divided  his  last  crust  with  hi& 
brethren  in  the  faith. 

Finally  the  terrible  war  which  had  all  the  horrors  of 
the  Thirty  Years'  War  and  more  put  into  nine  years,  came 
to  an  end  with  the  Peace  of  Ryswick,  October,  1697.  By 
it  King  Louis  XIY.  had  to  renounce  his  claims  to  the 
Palatinate,  which  was  given  back  to  the  Elector.  The 
Reformed  churches  were  given  back  to  them,  and  religious 
toleration  was  to  be  granted  to  all.  But  then  came  that 
fatal  clause  which  embittered  all  the  joy  of  the  Eeformed 
— the  fourth  article  of  the  peace.  Suddenly  before  the 
close  of  the  negotiations  on  the  night  of  October  29,  at 
the  last  moment,  the  French  diplomat  sprang  an  amend- 
ment on  them  which  annulled  all  the  peace,  as  far  as  it 
touched  the  religion  of  the  Palatinate.*  This  clause  then 
meant  nothing  less  than  that  all  changes  made  by  the 
French  during  this  war,  were  to  be  made  permanent,  and 
as  they  had  taken  a  good  many  churches  from  the  Re- 
formed, these  were  to  remain  Catholic.  This  clause  had 
immediate  reference  to  twenty-nine  churches  west  of  the 
Rhine,  in  the  district  of  Germersheim,  which  the  King  of 
France  had  endowed  or  bought.     But  it  was  soon  evident 

■•"  The  clause  says,  "And  in  those  places  which  the  crown  of  France  gave  ta 
their  former  owners,  the  Catholic  religion  should  remain  in  the  same  condi- 
tion in  which  it  is  at  present." 


262     THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

that  the  clause  was  to  have  a  much  larger  application. 
For  in  1699  the  French  diplomat,  Chauvois,  brought  for- 
ward a  list  of  the  churches  which  numbered  not  twenty- 
nine,  but  were  in  1922  places,  the  greater  part  of  which 
belono-ed  to  the  Palatinate.  If  this  had  been  carried  out, 
the  Palatinate  Reformed  Church  would  have  received  its 
death  blow.  This  clause  in  the  Ryswick  peace  caused 
bickerings  and  strife  down  to  the  middle  of  the  next 
century,  and  was  an  apple  of  discord  among  the  German 
states  for  forty  years.  The  French  had  virtually 
destroyed  the  Reformed  Church  west  of  the  Rhine,  and 
this  clause  was  to  be  interpreted  so  as  to  destroy  it  on  the 
east  bank.  Under  cover  of  it,  all  sorts  of  indignities  were 
perpetrated  against  the  Reformed.  In  Germersheim  the 
Reformed  lost  not  only  their  churches,  but  religious  lib- 
erty. Still  this  peace  had  one  good  result.  It  closed  the 
war  and  gave  the  country  a  chance  to  recover  prosperity. 
And  soon  King  Louis  XIV.  passed  away,  to  render  an 
account  of  his  cruelties  to  a  greater  King  than  himself. 
But  the  Nemesis  of  Providence  followed  him.  He 
devastated  Heidelberg  in  1693,  and  just  a  century  later, 
in  1793,  his  body,  with  others  of  his  line,  was  torn  from 
the  vault  of  the  St.  Denis  church,  at  Paris. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  IV. 

THE  PERSECUTION  IN  ZWEIBRUECKEN. 

The  county  of  Zweibriicken,  another  of  the  Palatinate 
lands,  also  suffered  during  these  wars,  but  its  sufferings 
took  place  before  1688.  Its  greatest  sufferings  were 
during  the  wars  of  the  Reunions,  because  the  French 
claimed  that  land,  as  it  had  once  belonged  to  Metz, 
which  was  then  a  part  of  France.  In  1673  Marshal 
Turenne  marched  from  Holland  with  a  French  army 
through  Zweibriicken,  to  fall  on  the  Palatinate.  And 
another  army,  under  Marquis  de  Rochefort,  robbed  the 
country  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rhine.  All  business 
ceased.  Every  one  was  in  anxiety.  These  troo23s  did 
not  care  from  what  land  they  filled  their  magazines.  In 
vain  did  the  Duke  of  Zweibriicken  remind  them  of  his 
neutrality.  The  years  of  1675  and  1676  were  especially 
terrible  years.  On  January  1  Count  Choiseul  appeared 
with  four  thousand  men  before  the  town  of  Zweibriicken. 
The  Reformed  had  gathered  in  the  Alexander  church  to 
pray  to  God,  but  their  devotions  had  hardly  begun,  when 
the  news  came  that  the  French  were  near.  They  went 
out  to  man  the  walls,  together  with  the  few  soldiers  who 
were  there.     The  French  Count  asked  to  be  allowed  to 


264  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

march  through  the  city,  as  Tiirenne  had  done  before  him, 
but  as  the  Duke  was  absent  from  the  city,  at  Meisenheim, 
the  magistrates  did  not  feel  as  though  they  could  grant 
the  request.  So  Count  Choiseul  began  to  bombard 
the  city.  The  citizens  finally  surrendered,  after  the 
French  had  given  the  promise  that  no  oppressions  would 
take  place.  But  the  citizens  soon  found  themselves 
fooled.  Instead  of  marching  through,  the  French  forces 
remained  a  whole  summer,  and  laid  heavy  contributions 
on  the  inhabitants  for  their  support.  General  Commis- 
sioner Lecolle  daily  brought  forward  new  claims  on  them. 
He  first  took  away  all  the  Ducal  property.  During  all 
the  summer  he  compelled  the  most  prominent  citizens  to 
build  outworks.  When  the  news  came  at  the  end  of 
October  that  a  German  army  approached,  he  dammed  up 
the  Erbach  and  Gom,  and  filled  the  valley  with  water, 
and  so  awaited  them.  As  he  did  not  trust  the  citizens, 
he  took  them  from  their  houses,  and  forced  them  all  into 
the  Alexander  church.  There  they  sat,  watched  by  the 
soldiers.  The  German  army  bombarded  the  town,  Decem- 
ber 2,  1676,  for  nine  hours.  Flames  broke  out,  and 
threatened  to  destroy  the  town.  The  citizens,  in  the 
meanwhile,  trembled  in  the  church  for  their  homes,  but 
they  lifted  up  their  hearts  to  God,  men,  women  and 
children  crying  together.  They  heard  the  thunder  of  the 
cannon  and  the  crackling  of  the  flames,  and  yet  had  to 
remain.     It  was  no  longer  their  property,  but  their  lives, 


OPPRESSIONS    IX   ZWEIBRUECKEX.  265 

about  which  they  were  anxious.  They  expected  every 
moment,  that  they  would  be  buried  under  the  ruins  of 
the  churcli.  Finally  all  became  still.  They  then  found 
themselves  permitted  to  go  out  to  their  homes ;  but  what 
a  sight  to  them  in  the  darkness  of  the  night !  Their 
houses  were  on  fire,  the  half  of  the  town  was  in  ashes. 
They  had  no  shelter,  no  comfort  except  to  tell  their  woes 
to  their  Lord.  In  the  following  year,  1677,  the  French 
army  went  away,  because  the  German  army  approached, 
but  they  determined  to  leave  the  district  a  waste.  They 
set  fire  to  houses  and  villages.  From  Hagenau  to  Kusel 
.420  towns  and  villages  were  destroyed,  and  no  man  was 
allowed  to  rebuild  or  replant  his  field  for  three  years  un- 
der penalty  of  death.  The  Count  of  Bissy  determined  to 
destroy  all  the  public  buildings  at  Zweibriicken  city  and 
take  all  the  property  possible  to  France.  Two  hundred 
men  were  appointed  to  carry  out  his  plans.  They  were 
stationed  along  the  streets,  and  at  a  given  signal  they  broke 
into  the  houses  and  compelled  the  inhabitants  to  go  into 
the  Alexander  church,  so  that  they  might  despoil  the  homes 
in  their  absence.  Then  the  soldiers  entered  the  public 
buildings  and  the  castle,  and  took  away  the  archives  of  the 
city  and  the  library  and  sent  them  to  Metz.  When  all  was 
taken  out  of  the  ducal  buildings,  they  went  into  the 
homes  of  the  citizens,  and  broke  open  the  chests  and  closets. 
The  whole  town  was  full  of  wagons  Avhich  they  had  gath- 
ered from  the  surrounding  country,  even  as  far  as  Lor- 
18 


266  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

raine.  These  were  to  take  away  tlie  plunder.  When  all 
was  taken,  they  left  the  poor  people  out  of  the  church, 
where  they  had  been  trembling  for  their  lives,  and  been 
imprisoned  fourteen  hours  without  anything  to  eat.  Then 
Count  Bissy  gave  the  soldiers  permission  to  gather  up 
what  was  left  in  the  ducal  palace.  With  a  shout  of  joy 
they  went  at  it.  No  vault  was  unbroken,  no  nail  in  the 
wall  which  they  did  not  pull  out.  The  church  was  plun- 
dered and  the  ducal  vault  was  opened  and  robbed  a  second 
time.  The  bodies  they  tore  out  of  the  coffins,  and  they 
also  tore  the  lead  from  the  coffins,  and  left  the  bodies  lying 
in  the  church.  Then  he  gave  command  to  finish  their 
work  by  burning  the  city.  All  the  walls  and  public  build- 
in  (rs  were  burned  as  well  as  the  new  castle.     One  hundred 

o 

and  forty  houses  were  burned,  and  only  355  families  left 
in  the  town.  Then  they  blew  up  the  beautiful  tower  of 
the  Alexander  church,  which  fell  on  the  main  part  of  the 
church,  and  broke  in  the  roof  and  the  beautiful  vault,  so  that 
only  the  four  walls  of  the  church  remained  standing,  and 
they  were  filled  with  rubbish.  Then  the  French  left. 
In  1679  the  Xymweg  Peace  brought  hope  to  their  hearts, 
and  the  Reformed  held  a  thanksgiving  service  again  in 
the  ruined  Alexander  church,  which  lasted  ten  hours. 
But  in  December,  1679,  the  French  demanded  by  what 
rio-ht  their  Count  ruled  the  land,  and  as  he  would  not 
appear  before  their  court  of  the  Reunions,  the  French 
came   again   and  garrisoned  the  town   of  Zweibriicken. 


PEESECUTIONS    IN   ZWEIBRUECKEX.  267 

And  now  new  religious  persecutions  were  added  to  their 
other  woes.  The  consistory  was  dissolved.  The  Classes 
could  not  be  held.  The  ministers'  salaries  were  lessened. 
And  when  one  died  or  left,  his  place  was  not  filled. 
Jesuits  came  into  the  land  to  take  their  places,  but  they 
found  their  work  of  converting  the  Reformed  more  diffi- 
cult than  they  expected.  They  called  the  Reformed  peo- 
ple to  mass,  and  no  one  came.  The  priests  went  from  town 
to  town,  but  with  no  result,  and  finally  appealed  to  the 
French  commander,  who  passed  new  regulations.  He 
declared  the  Romish  religion  to  be  the  religion  of  the 
state,  and  that  no  one  could  hold  office  unless  a  Catholic. 
In  the  villages  the  Reformed  were  ill  treated,  until  they 
went  to  mass.  The  second  pastor  at  Zweibriicken,  Kess- 
ler,  was  deposed,  because  he  was  charged  with  having 
given  expression  from  the  pulpit  of  a  hope  that  the  Ger- 
man Count  would  return  as  ruler  of  the  land.  And  the 
first  pastor,  Mollenthal,  had  to  pay  500  livres  as  a  fine, 
to  be  given  to  a  Catholic  parsonage,  because  he  had  given 
the  Lord's  Supper  to  a  man  (and  baptized  his  child)  who 
had  formerly  been  Catholic.  The  Alexander  church  was 
such  a  complete  ruin  that  it  could  not  be  used  for  church 
services.  In  the  least  injured  chapel  of  it  an  unfortunate 
family  lived  whose  house  had  been  burned  down,  and  who 
could  find  no  other  refuge.  In  the  choir,  which  was  still 
a  little  covered,  others  had  sought  to  protect  their  small 
store  of  hay  and  straw  against  the   storm.      Many   huts 


268  THE    EEFOEMED    CHUECH    OF    GEEMAXY. 

Avere  built  just  around  the  church  by  those  whose  houses 
had  been  burned.  All  else  in  the  town  was  in  ruins.  The 
Catholics  were  allowed  to  set  up  an  altar  in  the  church 
where  they  had  service,  and  they  formed  a  plan  by  which 
they  would  get  the  control  of  the  whole  church.  The 
commander  was  favorable  to  them,  but  did  not  know  how 
to  get  the  means  to  put  the  church  in  repair,  so  they  could 
use  it.  So  leaving  the  Reformed  under  the  false  idea 
that  it  was  to  be  rebuilt  for  them,  he  ordered  each  of  them 
to  give  a  free-will  offering  to  rebuild  it,  but  that  was  not 
enough.  Then  they  raised  collections  in  foreign  lands,  as 
the  Palatinate,  Isenburg,  Strassburg  and  Switzerland. 
Pastor  Salbach  Avent  to  Holland  and  there  raised  so  much 
money  that  it  was  not  necessary  for  him  to  go  to  England 
for  more.  All  then  went  to  work.  The  inhabitants  of 
the  whole  district  helped  to  get  the  rubbish  out  of  the 
church  and  to  bring  building  material.  In  all  haste  they 
made  the  contract  with  the  builder  before  the  French 
Intendant  knew  it.  He  expected  that  they  would  not  be 
able  to  raise  enough  money,  and  he  would  have  to  call  on 
the  King  of  France  to  help.  This  would  give  the  King 
a  claim  on  the  building.  Being  disappointed  when  they 
raised  as  much  as  they  needed,  he  now  offered  them  5,000 
livres  to  be  allowed  to  build  a  chapel,  if  they  would  allow 
Romish  worship  in  it  too.  When  the  Reformed  refused 
this,  he  decreed  that  their  agreement  with  their  builder 
Avas  illegal,  and  ordered  that  the  Reformed  give  up  to  him 


PERSECUTIOXS    IX   ZWEIBRUECKEN.  269 

within  twenty-four  hours  the  money  they  had  collected. 
He  then  gave  the  building  of  it  to  a  builder  who  would 
act  with  him  and  the  Catholics.  (The  church  was  finally 
finished  in  1689.)  Great  had  been  the  offerings  of  the 
Reformed,  and  great  was  their  surprise  to  find  their  wishes 
subverted.  For  the  Catholics  held  services  in  the  church, 
and  the  commandant  brought  so  many  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  their  worship,  that  they  were  glad  to  give  up  the 
church  and  worship  in  the  library  hall,  where  they  had 
worshipped  before,  when  the  church  was  not  fit  to  be 
used.  Finally  the  Peace  of  Ryswick  broke  the  French 
power  and  gave  the  land  to  Sweden,  which  sent  a  governor. 
The  Alexander  church  was  given  back  to  the  Reformed, 
and  now  the  Catholics  had  to  worship  in  the  library  hall. 
The  Reformed  held  a  thanksgiving  service  in  the  church. 
The  Swedes  declared  that  they  did  not  recognize  the  fatal 
fourth  article  of  the  Peace  of  Ryswick,  for  they  said  that 
peace  was  not  made  with  them,  but  with  the  Germans,  so 
the  Catholics  were  ordered  out  of  the  church.  But  now 
notice  their  trickery.  The  Swedish  governor  had  a  Frencli 
tutoress.  Through  her  the  Romanists  labored  to  influ- 
ence him,  so  their  departure  from  the  church  was  delayed 
until  Charles  XII.  was  defeated  and  the  matter  forgotten. 
As  a  result  they  continued  to  retain  the  choir.  And  now 
came  new  injustice  to  the  Reformed.  The  Swedes  were 
Lutherans,  and  the  commander  ordered  that  the  Luther- 
ans should  use  the  church  with  the  Reformed,  until  they 


270  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

built  a  church.  The  ruler  introduced  Lutheran  service 
into  the  Reformed  churches.  And  where  there  was  hardly 
a  Lutheran  in  the  village,  the  place  would  still  receive  a 
Lutheran  minister  and  schoolmaster,  who  were  paid  out  of 
the  Reformed  funds.  In  the  Reformed  gymnasium  at 
Zweibriicken,  as  at  other  gymnasia,  Lutheran  teachers 
were  placed.  Because  Reformed  funds  w^ere  thus  mis- 
used, some  of  their  pastorates  became  vacant,  and  their 
places  were  filled  with  Lutherans.  In  vain  did  the  Re- 
formed ministers  present  a  memorial  against  this  in  1704. 
Finally  an  agreement  was  reached  between  the  Lutherans 
and  the  Reformed  in  1720,  by  which  the  Reformed  were 
given  their  property,  although  the  Lutherans  were  given 
religious  liberty  to  labor  anywhere  in  the  land.  In  1793^ 
a  century  after,  the  French  army  again  took  Zweibrticken, 
and  the  Reformed  became  afraid,  lest  they  would  again 
lose  their  Avorship.  But  Bonaparte  soon  gained  contrqj  of 
the  French  republic,  and  religious  freedom  was  given  to 
all.  The  town  was  made  the  seat  of  a  consistory,  but 
with  the  fall  of  Napoleon  the  land  fell  back  to  Germany. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTIOIS^  V. 

COUNTESS  GERTRUDE  OF  BENTHEIM.-i^ 

At  the  time  of  the  persecutions  of  the  Palatinate, 
another  persecution  is  to  be  noted,  which,  although  it  did 
not  occur  in  any  of  the  Palatinate  lands,  was  not  far  from 
the  territory  of  Pfalz  Neuburg  on  the  northern  Rhine. 
In  the  northwestern  part  of  Germany,  on  the  borders  of 
Holland,  lay  the  little  county  of  Bentheim.  Count  Ernest 
William  of  Bentheim  married  a  lady  of  Holland  who  did 
not  by  birth  belong  to  the  nobility.  She  succeeded,  how- 
ever, in  getting  the  Bishop  of  Munster  to  intercede  for 
her  with  the  Emperor,  and  get  him  to  grant  her  a  patent, 
by  which  she  was  elevated  to  the  nobility,  so  that  her 
children  might  become  heirs  to  the  county.  But  the 
bishop,  who  was  a  Catholic,  expected  some  return  for  this 
favor,  and  seized  on  the  very  first  opportunity  to  get  it. 
Her  husband  was  of  a  weak,  pliable  nature,  and  the  bishop 
determined  to  convert  him  to  Rome.  At  the  beginning 
of  August,  1668,  her  husband  went  to  the  funeral  of  his 
brother  at  Steinfurt,  which  lay  only  a  few  miles  away 
from  Munster.     The  Bishop  of  Munster  had  heard  that  he 

*  For  fuller  accounts  of  the  female  characters  mentioned  in   this   book,   see 
the  Reformed  Church  Magazine,  189-4-95,  published  at  Reading,  Pa. 


272  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH   OF    GERMANY. 

was  there,  and  garrisoned  the  roads  between  Steinfurt  and 
Bentheim,  intending  to  compel  him  to  go  with  him  to 
Munster,  so  that  he  might  urge  him  into  the  Romish  faith. 
When  he  had  forced  the  Count  to  go  to  Munster,  he  plied 
him  with  arguments  and  pressed  him  with  influences,  so 
that  he  very  soon  went  over  to  the  Romish  faith. 

The  news  of  his  conversion  soon  come  to  Bentheim, 
and  caused  great  anxiety.  Countess  Gertrude  at  once 
sent  her  four  oldest  sons  to  Holland,  so  as  to  be  safe  from 
Romish  influences,  and  her  babe  she  had  baptized  in  the 
Reformed  faith.  The  Reformed  ministers  at  once  held  a 
special  meeting  of  their  Classis,  and  appealed  to  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg  to  protect  them.  At  this  meet- 
ing the  Reformed  Church  of  Bentheim  chose  a  seal,  which 
represented  the  Church  as  a  ship  in  which  Christ  and  his 
disciples  are  on  the  stormy  sea,  with  the  inscription  under 
it,  ^'  Lord  save  us,  we  perish.''  The  Bishop  of  Munster 
then  tried  to  get  possession  of  the  castle  at  Bentheim  by 
trickery.  He  sent  soldiers  to  ask  in  the  name  of  the 
Count  that  it  be  delivered  up  to  him.  The  Countess 
bravely  refused  to  do  .this,  unless  the  Count  would  come 
and  in  person  ask  that  it  be  done,  for  she  suspected  that  it 
was  a  trick  on  the  part  of  the  bishop.  Then  the  bishop 
came  witli  4,000  soldiers  to  take  it.  She  would  have 
defended  it  to  the  death,  if  some  one  had  not  turned  traitor 
and  given  the  bishop  a  key,  by  which  he  entered  one  of 
the  gates.     AYhen  the  enemy  entered,  she  rushed  from  her 


273 


apartments  to  go  and  defend  the  gates.  But  she  was  too 
late,  and  the  castle  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
When  the  next  day,  which  was  Sunday,  the  Reformed 
wanted  to  hold  services  as  usual  in  the  castle  chapel,  they 
found  that  they  were  not  permitted  to  have  service,  and 
the  Jesuits  had  mass  instead.  The  Bishop  of  Munster 
having  captured  her  castle,  now  tried  to  convert  her  to 
Romanism,  as  he  had  done  her  husband.  But  he  found 
her  immovable.  She  was  a  stronger  fortress  than  Bent- 
heim  itself,  "  for  the  Lord  w^as  her  rock  and  her  fortress.'^ 
Having  failed  in  persuasion,  they  now  used  threats  to  her. 
She  was  told  her  husband  would  not  be  allowed  to  see  her 
unless  she  became  a  Romanist,  but  still  she  refused.  She 
was  then  taken  under  a  guard  of  soldiers  to  Munster, 
where  every  effort  was  made  to  force  her  to  Rome.  Most 
of  her  servants  were  taken  away.  They  even  threatened 
to  take  away  from  her  her  young  babe,  unless  she  would 
order  her  sons  in  Holland  to  return  to  her,  so  that  they 
might  be  educated  in  the  Romish  faith.  But  though  she  had 
lost  her  husband,  and  was  threatened  with  the  loss  of  her 
babe,  she  still  remained  steadfast.  Finding  persuasion  and 
threats  of  no  avail,  they  now  used  force  and  compelled  her 
to  sign  a  paper  which  they  sent  to  Holland  asking  that 
country  to  send  her  children  back  to  her.  When  the 
paper  was  brought  before  her  to  sign,  she  expostulated 
with  the  Munster  councillor  about  the  wickedness  of  such 
deception,  but  she  received  the  Jesuitic  answer,  '^  Right  or 


274  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

wrong,  it  must  be  done.''  So  she  had  no  other  alternative 
but  to  sign.  Fortunately  the  Dutch  government  was 
aw^are  of  the  manner  in  which  she  was  treated,  and  refused 
to  deliver  up  her  children.  Suddenly  one  day,  when  the 
mayor  of  the  city  with  whom  she  was  imprisoned,  was 
away  at  a  wedding,  she  escaped  with  her  babe  over  the 
borders  into  Holland,  where  the  States  General  gave  her 
protection. 

Meanwhile  the  Keformed  of  Bentheim  had  to  suffer 
severe  persecutions.  The  Reformed  officials  at  the  court 
were  dismissed,  and  Romish  officers  appointed  in  their 
stead.  Her  court  preacher,  Sartorius,  was  transported 
over  the  border  of  the  land  by  soldiers.  The  Reformed 
pastor  at  Neuenhaus  was  imprisoned,  and  the  pastor  at 
Schuttorf  was  put  out  of  the  parsonage.  Part  of  the 
Reformed  endowments  were  taken  from  them  and  given 
to  the  Jesuits.  The  Reformed  ministers  who  had  advised 
her  to  send  away  her  children,  or  who  kept  up  correspon- 
dence with  her  in  Holland,  were  banished  or  imprisoned. 
The  whole  country  groaned  under  the  quarterings,  the 
marches  and  the  levyings  of  the  Bishop  of  Munster. 
Holland,  Brandenburg  and  Hesse-Cassel  took  up  her 
cause  in  the  German  courts,  but  in  vain.  To  add  to  her 
troubles,  the  Bishop  of  Munster  in  1678  pronounced  her 
divorced  from  her  husband  and  then  married  him  to  a 
Romisli  Princess.  And  to  cap  the  climax,  the  Emperor 
in  1679  issued  an  order  depriving  her  of  her  rank  as  a 


275 


noble.  Thus  she  was  shut  out  entirely  from  the  succes- 
sion to  the  county  of  Bentheim.  When  her  husband  died, 
he  disowned  her  children  and  left  the  county  to  his 
Romish  brother.  Thus  she  lost,  for  the  sake  of  her  Re- 
formed faith,  her  husband  and  her  land,  but  she  shines  in 
history  as  one  of  the  brightest  examples  of  constancy  yet 
revealed  by  the  Reformed  of  Germany.  She  was  so  com- 
pletely broken  down  by  the  persecutions,  sufferings  and 
disappointments,  that  she  died  in  1679 — a  martyr  for  her 
faith.  But  by  the  ordering  of  Providence,  the  Catholic 
line  of  the  rulers  of  Bentheim  died  out  in  1803,  and  her 
descendent  now  sits  on  the  throne  of  Bentheim. 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  REIGN  OF  TERROR. 

The  wars  of  the  Palatinate  were  over,  but  the  persecu- 
tions of  the  Reformed  were  not  over.  Their  enemies,  the 
French,  were  driven  out,  and  yet  their  greatest  enemies 
remained — the  Elector  and  the  Jesuits.  On  the  heels  of 
the  oppressions  of  war  came  others  more  insidious.  The 
persecutions  of  peace  are  harder  to  resist  than  those  of 
war.  Ecclesiastical  oppressious  now  took  the  place  of 
political.  The  latter  had  lasted  only  nine  years,  but  these 
lasted  for  a  century.  For  a  hundred  years  Pope,  Priest 
and  Prince  united  themselves  against  the  Reformed. 

SECTION  I. 

ELECTOR  JOHN  WILLIAM  (1690-1716)  AND  THE  SIMUL- 
TANEOUS WORSHIP. 

Elector  John  William  had  refused  to  protect  the 
Reformed  during  the  French  wars,  because  he  said  he 
could  not.  Now,  however,  that  the  French  had  gone,  he 
threw  off  the  mask,  and  said  he  would  not.  He  was  a 
much  more  bigoted  man  than  the  previous  Elector,  hav- 
ing been  educated  by  the  Jesuits,  who  now  used  him  as 
their  tool.     He  came  to  the  Palatinate  in   June,  1698. 


THE   SIMULTANEOUS   WORSHIP.  277 

On  October  29^  1698,  he  issued  an  edict,  which  would 
have  been  a  death-blow  to  the  Reformed.  It  ordered, 
that  all  the  Reformed  churches  be  thrown  open  to  the 
Catholics  for  their  worship.  It  was  called  the  Simultaneum, 
because  it  ordered  the  simultaneous  worship  of  the  three 
religions.  The  Elector  claimed  that  he  did  it  under  the 
specious  plea  of  religious  toleration,  because  it  opened  the 
Reformed  churches  to  all  three  confessions,  Lutheran 
and  Catholic,  as  well  as  Reformed.  But  this  was  only  a 
feint,  to  draw  attention  from  his  real  purpose,  which  was 
to  gain  control  of  the  Reformed  churches  for  the  Catho- 
lics. His  plea  was  a  false  one,  for  it  did  not  open  a 
single  Romish  church  to  Reformed  worship.  It  was, 
therefore,  most  unjust.  This  edict  opened  two  hundred 
and  forty  Reformed  churches  to  the  Catholics.  This 
Simultaneum  was  introduced  by  the  Romanists  seizing 
the  Reformed  church  at  WeiAheim,  where  the  Elector  had 
his  capital,  as  Heidelberg  was  not  yet  fit  to  be  inhabited. 
Although  Heidelberg  was  buried  in  ruins,  the  Elector 
ordered  the  Jesuits  to  open  the  church  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
where  they  held  services  amid  rain  and  mud.  At  Strom- 
berg  they  drove  the  Reformed  out  of  the  church,  and 
arrested  a  Reformed  pastor  for  taking  a  crucifix  off  the 
pulpit,  while  Electoral  dragoons  robbed  his  property.  In 
many  places  the  Reformed  resisted  the  edict.  At  Sachsen- 
flur  the  dragoons  entered  the  church  by  force.  The  con- 
gregation, who  refused  to  give  up  the  keys,  were  fined  100 


278  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

thalers,  and  the  women  who  had  been  especially  prominent 
in  their  opposition,  were  put  into  the  pillory.  ^\Tien  it 
was  found  that  the  Reformed,  who  were  imprisoned  in 
some  places,  strengthened  themselves  with  their  Heidel- 
berg Catechism,  it  was  taken  away.*  Fabricius  boldly 
entered  complaint  against  the  confiscation  of  the  Reformed 
church  at  Weinheim.  Although  it  did  not  lead  to  the 
restoration  of  that  church,  it  had  one  good  effect ;  it  led  to 
the  re-organization  of  the  Reformed  consistory.  Wieden- 
bach  was  appointed  lay  member  and  Achenbach  a  minis- 
terial member.  In  1699  the  Elector  drove  out  the  French 
refugees  who  had  found  an  asylum  in  the  Palatinate  under 
Elector  Charles.  On  June  31,  1699,  he  appointed  a  com- 
mission, partly  Romanist  and  partly  Reformed,  to  take 
charge  of  the  alms  and  other  affairs  of  the  Reformed 
church.  This  was  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  the  Re- 
formed, whose  interests  were  in  the  hands  of  the  consistory. 
The  famous,  or  rather  infamous.  Quad,  a  Reformed  prose- 
lyte to  Rome,  played  an  important  part  in  this  commission 
against  the  Reformed.  Thus  they  aimed  to  take  not  only 
the  Reformed  churches,  but  the  Reformed  funds  were  placed 
under  the  control  of  this  commission.  The  commission 
decided  that  the  Reformed  should  have  five-sevenths  and 
the  Romanists  two-sevenths  of  the   income.      This   was 

*■  An  upper  judge  in  Germersheim  said  of  them  :  "  These  Reformed  are 
like  brook-willows.  When  they  are  cut  and  broken  down,  they  spring  up 
again  fresh  and  strong."     So  said  Jeremiah,  17  :  7-8. 


PERSECUTIONS   OF   THE    REFORMED.  279 

unjust,  because  all  belonged  originally  to  the  Reformed. 
As  two-sevenths  were  used  by  the  Catholics,  the  Reformed 
received  so  much  less  money.  Fifty  ministers  had  to  leave 
because  they  could  not  get  their  salaries.  And  yet  in  spite 
of  all  these  oppressions,  it  is  wonderful  how  the  Reformed 
clung  to  their  faith.  Many  gave  up  home  and  friends 
rather  than  give  up  their  faith,  and  emigrated  to  the 
western  world.  Xo  instance  is  given  where  they  attempted 
to  return  the  personal  indignities  to  them.  Persecution 
did  its  sanctifying  work  among  them.  And  the  Church 
since  the  days  of  Elector  Frederick  III.  was  not  in  such  a 
good  moral  or  spiritual  condition. 

.  Bnt  their  condition  daily  became  more  deplorable  out- 
wardly, and  finally  as  a  last  step  they  appealed  to  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg  and  the  Protestant  States.  Like 
an  angel  of  mercy  he  stepped  in.  But  for  his  intercession 
the  Reformed  Church  would  have  been  entirely  suppressed. 
Complaints  came  to  the  Protestant  States  at  Ratisbon  that 
children  of  mixed  marriages  (where  one  parent  was  Catho- 
lic) were  forced  to  become  Catholics,  even  if  the  marriage 
contract  specified  that  they  should  become  Reformed.  The 
pastor  of  Ingelheim,  who  had  allowed  a  Catholic  wife  and 
a  Reformed  young  man,  whose  dead  father  had  been  a 
Catholic,  to  commune,  had  dragoons  quartered  on  him  and 
suffered  fines.  At  Guntheim,  near  Alzei,  a  girl  eighteen 
years  of  age,  the  child  of  a  mixed  marriage  (the  marriage 
contract  made  her  Reformed),  was  so  whijjped  with  rods 


280  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

by  the  Catholic  priest  that  she  became  sick.  In  many 
places,  if  the  Reformed  women  as  much  as  knit  stockings 
on  Romish  feast  clays,  they  were  fined.  These  are  some 
illustrations  of  the  terrorism  used  to  force  the  Reformed 
into  the  Romish  Church. 

The  Evangelical  States  addressed  a  protest  to  the 
Elector.  He  replied,  January  26,  1699,  saying  that  there 
was  no  oppression,  but  only  the  largest  toleration,  for  had 
he  not  opened  all  the  Reformed  churches  to  all  denomi- 
nations? So  under  the  plea  of  religious  toleration,  he 
continued  his  oppressions.  But  the  Evangelical  states 
Avere  not  blinded  by  this.  They  were  now  joined  by  Swe- 
den, and  a  Prussian  and  a  Swedish  ambassador  appeared 
in  the  Palatinate  in  July,  1699.  They  were  however  not 
able  to  do  anything,  except  to  hear  new  complaints  of 
oppressions  there.  The  Elector's  officials  always  evaded 
the  real  point.  Meanwhile  the  difficulties  of  the  Reformed 
increased.  The  Reformed  consistory  was  almost  broken 
up  in  1700.  The  faithful  Fabricius  died,  1696,  Wie- 
denbach  was  dismissed,  and  Achenbach,  after  being  dis- 
missed, accepted  a  call  to  be  court  preacher  of  the  King 
of  Prussia,  and  only  Heiles  and  Hauser,  together  with  the 
aged  Secretary,  Kreuz,  remained.  Dragonnades,  whicli 
had  been  common  in  Germersheim,  Neustadt  and  Lantern, 
now  began  to  be  carried  on  in  all  parts  of  the  land.  It 
looked  as  if  the  Reformed  were  about  to  suffiir  in  the 
Palatinate,  as  the  Reformed  in  France  had  suffered  fifteen 


PKUSSIA^S    REPRISALS.  281 

years  before.  And  it  looked  as  if  the  Reformed  would 
be  driven  out  of  the  Palatinate,  as  they  had  been  out  of 
France.  Many  of  the  Protestants  were  brought  to  beg- 
gary, many  put  in  prison  and  made  to  subsist  on  bread 
and  water  without  being  permitted  to  see  the  light  of  day. 

Finally  the  Prussian  ambassador,  dissatisfied  with  the 
evasions  of  the  Elector,  gave  an  ultimatum,  and  left 
Heidelberg  in  1700.  The  Evangelical  States  now 
appealed  from  the  Elector  to  the  Emperor,  who,  in  1703, 
appointed  a  commission  to  examine  into  the  complaints. 
But  the  commission  was  largely  Catholic  and  partisan, 
and  besides  the  Catholic  members  of  it  did  not  agree  with 
the  Protestant.  Finally  Prussia,  feeling  that  there  was  no 
hope  for  justice  through  the  commission  or  the  Elector, 
or  the  Emperor,  began  to  fight  fire  with  fire,  and  retaliate. 
'^  Indeed,''  says  a  writer,  "  if  the  King  of  Prussia  had  not 
been  so  persistent,  all  must  have  been  given  up  for  which 
our  fathers  suffered  so  much."  The  King  of  Prussia 
threatened  the  Romish  priests  of  Halberstadt,  Magdeburg 
and  Minden,  that  he  would  take  away  part  of  their  endoAV- 
ments  and  restrict  their  worship,  if  within  six  weeks  they 
did  not  intercede  with  the  Elector  of  the  Palatinate,  and 
have  the  persecutions  in  the  Palatinate  stopped.  The 
head  of  the  Capuchins  at  Halberstadt  set  out  quickly  to 
remonstrate  with  the  Catholic  States  at  Ratisbon,  but  it 
had  no  effect.  The  King  again  warned  them.  Finding 
all  his  warnings  of  no  avail,   he  took   possession   of  the 

19 


282  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

Romish  convents  and  chnrches  at  Halberstaclt,  Minden 
and  Magdeburg.  This  brought  matters  to  a  crisis.  The 
Emperor  sent  a  warning  note  to  both  the  Elector  of  the 
Palatinate  and  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg.  Negotiations 
began,  but  at  first  the  Elector  of  the  Palatinate  was 
unwilling  to  yield.  ]Mean while  the  Emperor  of  Germany 
died,  and  the  bigoted  Leopold  was  succeeded  by  the  more 
enlightened  Francis  Joseph  I.  He  issued  an  edict,  No- 
vember 21, 1705,  whicli  granted  the  Reformed  in  the  Palat- 
inate religious  liberty.  No  children  of  mixed  marriages 
were  to  be  forced  into  the  Romish  Church.  If  there  was 
no  marriage  agreement,  they  were  to  be  brought  up  in  the 
faith  of  their  father.  No  one  was  to  be  compelled  to  bow 
the  knee  to  the  host,  or  to  abstain  from  work  on  a  Romish 
feast  day,  or  be  forced  to  Romish  service.  It  ordered  the 
simultaneous  worship  to  be  done  away  with,  and  the  Re- 
formed to  receive  back  their  churches  again.*  The 
Reformed  faculty  in  the  university  was  revived,  but  now 
to  it  a  Catholic  faculty  was  added.  This  was  in  direct 
opposition  to  the  Halle  Recess,  which  promised  that  the 
university  should  ever  remain  Reformed.     The  last  Re- 

*  But  there  was  this  modifying  clause,  that  where  there  were  two  churches 
in  a  town,  the  Reformed  were  to  have  one  and  the  Romanists  the  other. 
Where  there  was  only  one  church,  a  wall  was  to  be  built  through  it,  and  the 
Reformed  were  to  have  the  nave,  while  the  Catholics  had  the  choir.  Thus 
the  Church  of  the  Holy  Ghost  at  Heidelberg  had  its  famous  division  wall 
erected  in  1705,  which  gave  the  nave  to  the  Reformed  and  the  choir  to  the 
Catholics.  It  ordered  that  of  the  revenues,  two-sevenths  should  go  to  the 
Catholics. 


OPPRESSIONS   OF   THE   REFORMED.  283 

formed  professors  had  been  Fabricius,  who  died  1696,  and 
then  Achenbach,  who  was  professor  when  the  university 
was  at  Weinheim,  before  Heidelberg  was  rebuilt,  but  there 
had  been  no  Reformed  professor  for  five  years,  as  he  left 
1700.  So  the  Elector  in  1706  appointed  J.  Ch.  Kirch- 
meyer,  Pastoir  and  Lewis  Christian  Mieg,  Reformed  pro- 
fessors. In  all  this  we  see  a  compromise  which  was 
unfair  toward  the  Reformed.  The  Catholics  gained  pos- 
session of  at  least  part  of  all  the  Reformed  churches  in 
the  Palatinate,  and  of  two-sevenths  of  their  funds,  to 
which  the  Romanists  had  not  the  slightest  claim.  (When 
Rome  gets  hold  of  anything,  she  never  gives  up  her  grip 
on  it.)  And  yet  the  Reformed,  persecuted  as  they  were, 
were  glad  to  make  concessions,  so  that  they  might  get 
liberty  to  worship  again.  While,  however,  they  gained  a 
large  part  of  their  rights,  they  still  lost  ground.  For  in 
many  places  where  they  received  back  the  churches  again, 
they  had  not  the  ability  to  send  them  pastors,  or  keep  up 
religious  service.  Yet  on  the  other  hand  the  Romanists 
were  strong  and  wealthy,  and  used  every  opportunity. 
In  many  places,  as  Mosbach  and  Ladenburg,  where, 
according  to  the  edict,  the  leading  church  should  have  been 
given  to  the  Reformed,  they  never  received  possession  of 
it.  And  the  mixed  commission  which  the  Elector  had 
appointed,  did  not  always  carry  out  the  decree.  For  the 
Romanists  were  in  the  majority  in  it,  and  the  renegades. 
Quad  and  Rittmeyer,  used  every  opportunity  against  the 


284  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

Eeformed.  Often  the  church  revenues  were  so  divided, 
that  the  five-sevenths  of  the  Reformed  and  the  two-sev- 
enths of  the  Catholics  were  about  equal.  According  to 
the  fourth  article  of  the  Ryswick  peace,  one-third  of  all 
the  Reformed  funds  were  lost  to  them.  The  endowments 
of  Hordt,  Selz,  Klingenmunster  and  Germersheim  were 
in  the  hands  of  the  Catholics.  The  Elector  also  gave  the 
rich  convent  of  Xeuburg,  opposite  Heidelberg,  which  had 
belonged  to  the  Reformed,  to  the  Catholics.  Finally,  in 
1617,  Elector  John  William  died,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  brother,  Charles  Phillip. 


CHAPTER  III.— SECTION  11. 

ELECTOR  CHARLES  PHILLIP  (1716-1742)  AND  THE  80TH 
QUESTION  OF  THE  HEIDELBERG  CATECHISM. 

The  Eeformed  got  rid  of  one  enemy,  only  to  receive  a 
worse  one.  Elector  Charles  Phillip  was,  like  his  brother, 
a  bigot,  but  a  soldier,  too,  and  therefore  would  brook  no 
disobedience  from  his  inferiors.  He  had  been  educated 
for  the  priesthood,  but  had  been  permitted  by  the  Pope  to 
exchange  the  priest's  robe  for  the  soldier's  coat.  He  soon 
revealed  his  arbitrary  character.  For  three  years  at  the 
beginning  of  his  reign  he  did  not  get  to  Heidelberg,  as  he 
was  governor  at  Innspruck  in  the  Tyrol,  and  he  did  not 
arrive  at  Heidelberg  till  November  4,  1718.  But  he  had 
not  been  there  a  month,  before  he  began  to  take  steps  to 
get  the  whole  control  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
for  the  Catholics.  He  startled  the  Reformed  by  issuing 
two  edicts  against  them  in  1719.  The  first  was  on  April 
24,  when  he  forbade  the  use  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism. 
The  Jesuits  had  called  his  attention  to  the  80th  question 
of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  especially  the  last  clause, 
which  designated  the  mass  as  "  an  accursed  idolatry."* 

*  This  answer  had  been  attacked  by  the  Jesuits  in  the  Palatinate  as  early 
as  1688.  For  a  long  time  they  had  insisted  that  a  book  using  such  strong 
language  against  Romish  doctrines  should  not  be  permitted  in  the  Palatinate. 


286  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

For  a  new  edition  of  the  Catechism  had  appeared  (1718), 
bearing,  as  usual,  the  Electoral  coat  of  arms  on  the  title 
page  with  the  words  under  it,  '^  By  order  of  his  Electoral 
Highness.''  The  Jesuits  reminded  him  of  the  inconsis- 
tency of  publishing,  with  his  sanction  and  bearing  his 
coat  of  arms,  a  book  which  slandered  his  own  faith.  He 
therefore  issued  the  decree  ordering  the  Catechism  to  be 
confiscated,  and  if  it  were  still  used,  imposing  a  fine  of 
ten  florins.  He  issued  this  decree  without  giving  any 
notice  to  the  Keformed  consistory — indeed  did  not  give 
them  official  notice  till  May  2,  when  he  repeated  his 
decree.  He  ordered  that  Bibles  and  psalm  books  be 
taken  from  the  Reformed.  The  consistory  heard  of  the 
edict  with  alarm,  and  hastened  to  call  a  Synod  of  the 
Reformed  ministers.  They  met  and  sent  an  explanation 
of  the  80th  question  to  the  Elector,  hoping  that  then  he 
would  permit  the  use  of  the  Catechism.  They  reminded 
him  that  this  old  creed,  published  as  long  as  a  century 
and  a  half  before,  had  never  been  forbidden  by  any  diet 
or  peace  of  the  empire.  They  also  reminded  him  that 
even  his  Romish  predecessors  had  permitted  its  use.     As 

But  Gurtler  and  Fabricius  defended  the  Catechism  then.  Again  in  1690  the 
Jesuits  published  tracts  against  it.  Lenfant  answered  them  so  vigorously  in 
his  book  entitled  "The  Innocence  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,"  that  his 
friends  advised  him  to  leave  the  land,  and  he  went  to  Berlin.  In  1707  Ritt- 
meyer,  the  Reformed  proselyte  to  Catholicism,  attacked  it  and  was  answered 
by  Professors  Mieg  and  Kirchmeyer.  Rittmeyer  replied,  charging  it  with  25 
untruths,  to  which  they  replied  that  the  untruths  were  truths.  The  contro- 
versy was  then  stopped  by  the  Elector,  who  did  not  like  to  have  anything 
written  against  the  Jesuits. 


THE   EIGHTIETH    ANSWER.  287 

far  as  the  80tli  question  was  concerned,  it  was  no  more 
severe  than  the  clauses  of  the  Romish  creeds,  or  of  the 
council  of  Trent,  or  the  damning  clause  of  Pope  Pius  IV. 
They  also  explained  that  in  teaching  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism, they  did  not  apply  that  answer  to  persons,  but  to 
doctrines,  and  between  condemning  persons  and  condemn- 
ing doctrines  there  was  a  great  difference.  They  plead 
with  the  Elector  not  to  take  away  their  creed,  or  to  alter 
it  by  leaving  out  the  80th  answer,  as  that  would  separate 
them  from  the  other  Reformed  churches.  In  addition, 
they  reminded  him  that  the  edition  of  1718  had  been  pub- 
lished, not  by  themselves,  but  by  a  bookseller  who  was  a 
Catholic,  and  who  had  done  so  according  to  the  permis- 
sion given  twenty  years  before,  in  1699.  Professors  Mieg 
and  Kirchmeyer  tried  to  still  further  influence  the  Elec- 
tor, but  he  was  inflexible.  The  oflicials  of  the  Elector 
were  ordered  to  seize  all  copies  of  the  Catechism.  As  a 
result  persecution  broke  out  against  the  Reformed,  espe- 
cially in  the  district  of  Germersheim.  They  began  forc- 
ing the  Reformed  to  Catholic  ceremonies,  and  to  celebrate 
Catholic  feast  days,  and  forced  children  of  mixed  mar- 
riages to  the  Romish  faith.  JSTo  Reformed  bridegroom 
was  allowed  to  marry  a  Romish  bride,  without  promising 
that  the  children  should  be  trained  in  the  Romish  faith. 
But  the  Elector  capped  the  climax  by  another  edict,  severe 
in  itself,  but  coming  on  the  heels  of  the  other,  it  meant 
destruction  to  the  Reformed.     It  was  the  taking  away  of 


288  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

the  Church  of  the  Holy  Ghost  at  Heidelberg,  the  church 
that  had  always  stood  as  the  representative  of  the  Re- 
formed faith.  On  August  29  he  summoned  the  Reformed 
consistory  before  him  and  ordered  them  to  peaceably  give 
the  Catholics  the  nave  as  well  as  the  choir,  which  they 
had  already.  He  claimed  that  the  church  was  a  court 
church,  because  it  was  a  burial-place  of  the  Princes,  and 
as  he  was  Catholic,  it  ought  to  be  of  his  faith ;  and  he 
said  that  old  Prince  Rupert,  who  built  it  in  the  15th  cen- 
tury, had  built  it  for  a  Romish  church,  and  he  noAv  wanted 
it  to  be  such.  He  further  told  them  that  if  they  would 
not  give  it  up  peaceably,  he  would  take  it  by  force.  Sur- 
prise and  consternation  appeared  on  the  faces  of  the  Re- 
formed consistory  when  they  heard  this  command.  They 
felt  the  request  was  very  unjust,  because  the  Catholics  did 
not  need  churches.  They  had  only  one-third  of  the 
population  in  Heidelberg,  and  yet  had  seven  churches,  when 
the  Reformed  had  only  two.  In  their  reply  of  August 
30  they  reminded  him  that  the  Holy  Ghost  church  had 
never  been  a  court  church,  but  had  always  been  a  city 
church  for  the  people,  and  not  for  the  court.  As  to  the 
Elector's  desire  to  have  it  for  a  burial-place,  they  reminded 
him  that  the  Romanists  already  had  the  use  of  the  choir, 
which  was  the  part  of  the  church  where  the  Princes  were 
buried.  As  to  his  plea  that  the  Catholics  ought  to  have  it, 
because  Prince  Rupert  built  it  to  be  a  Romish  church,  that 
argument   would   open   all   the   Protestant    churches    of 


THE   CHURCH    OF   THE    HOLY    GHOST.  289 

Germany  that  had  been  built  before  the  reformation,  to 
the  Catholics.  Of  course  they  also  reminded  the  Elec- 
tor that  the  previous  treaties  of  1648,  1685  and  1705  had 
all  acknowledged  the  right  of  the  Reformed  to  the  church, 
and  that  the  last  Elector,  himself  a  Romanist,  had  made 
no  opposition.  But  the  Elector  appointed  September  4  as 
the  date  when  the  church  must  be  given  up  by  them  or 
taken  from  them.  On  the  morning  of  that  day  the  con- 
sistory appeared  before  the  court  and  refused  to  give  the 
church  up.  They  locked  the  church  and  barricaded  the 
doors  from  within,  but  the  enemy  got  hold  of  the  watch- 
maker, who  had  a  key  to  the  public  city  clock  on  the 
church.  This  key  gave  them  an  entrance  to  the  toAver, 
from  which  they  descended  into  the  church  by  ropes. 
Having  gotten  within,  they  opened  the  doors  of  the 
church,  and  the  president  of  the  court  and  the  commander 
of  the  city  went  in.  They  placed  fanatical  Catholic 
Tyrolese  soldiers  at  tlie  door  as  guards.  Then  they  began 
tearing  down  the  division  wall  that  separated  the  choir 
of  the  Romanists  from  the  nave  of  the  Reformed,  so  that 
the  Romanists  might  have  it  all.  The  president  of  the 
Electoral  Council  gave  the  first  stroke,  and  thus  in  the 
name  of  the  Elector  sanctioned  the  high-handed  proceed- 
ing. The  church  was  then  dedicated  to  Romish  worship 
by  the  Archbishop  of  Treves.  This  was  only  the  begin- 
ning of  greater  Jesuit  designs,  for  that  same  week  the 
Reformed  churches  at  Wisloch  and  Schluchtern  were  taken 


290  THE    EEFOEMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

from  them  by  force,  and  the  Simultaneum  began  in  other 
parts  of  the  land.  A  cry  of  horror  went  up  from  the 
Reformed,  who  felt  that  all  this  was  only  the  beginning 
of  dragonnades,  like  those  in  France  against  the  Re- 
formed. If  the  Elector  could  take  the  leading  church,  he 
could  take  any  other.  The  Reformed  at  Heidelberg  were 
now  in  a  worse  condition  than  under  the  previous  Elector. 
They  had  no  place  to  worship,  and  had  to  go  to  the  open 
square  called  the  Monk's  court  (Moenchhof),  where  they 
built  a  pulpit  in  the  wall.*  They  there  held  service  in 
the  open  air,  but  were  even  forbidden  to  do  that.  Her- 
nanni,  the  Reformed  pastor,  together  with  many  of  the 
citizens,  went  to  the  Elector  at  Schwetzingen  to  intercede, 
but  in  vain.  Nothing  now  remained  for  the  Reformed 
but  to  appeal  to  the  Protestant  States  of  the  empire  at 
Ratisbon.  These  at  once  took  up  the  matter  with  great 
activity.  Prussia  and  Hesse-Cassel  had  already  pro- 
tested against  the  suppression  of  the  Catechism.  The 
oppressions  of  the  Palatinate  now  became  a  European 
matter.  Four  ambassadors — Prussian,  Dutch,  Hessian 
and  English — appeared  at  Heidelberg  to  protest  against 
the  Elector's  decrees.  The  Elector  simply  denied  any 
injustice  to  the  Reformed,  but  the  ambassadors  soon 
experienced  it  themselves,  for  some  of  their  own  servants 
had   to    kneel  before   the    Catholic   host   in   the   streets. 

•^'' Located  near  the  foot  of  the  Monchgasse  leading  from   the   Carlplatz  to 
the  Neckar. 


THE  ELECTOR  LEAVES  HEIDELBERG.      291 

Finally  the  Protestant  States  decided  that  the  only  way 
to  bring  the  Romanists  to  terms,  would  be  to  make  repri- 
sals, as  Prussia  had  done  in  1705.  But  now  the  other 
Protestant  nations  joined  Prussia.  Hesse-Cassel  closed 
the  Romish  church  at  St.  Goar  and  Langenschw^albach. 
King  George  of  England  closed  the  Romish  church  at 
Celle.  The  King  of  Prussia  closed  the  cathedral  at  Min- 
den  and  sequestrated  the  cloisters  at  Halberstadt,  until 
the  Elector  would  open  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
the  Reformed.  These  severe  measures  soon  began  to  have 
an  influence  on  the  Elector."^'  When  the  Elector  learned 
that  there  would  be  a  decree  of  the  Emperor  against  him, 
he  declared  that  he  would  give  back  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  the  Reformed  ;  but  if  he  did  so,  he  would 
forever  leave  Heidelberg  and  make  his  capital  at  Man- 
heim.  He  would  break  down  the  Neckar  bridge,  which 
had  been  the  pride  of  Heidelberg  for  ages,  and  leave  Hei- 
delberg to  become  a  country  town,  with  grass  growing  in 
the  streets.  The  Reformed  people  of  Heidelberg  nobly 
refused  to  give  up  their  faith,  even  if  they  lost  the  pres- 
ence of  their  Prince.  So  he  issued  a  decree,  February  29, 
1720,  giving  back  the  Church  of  the   Holy  Ghost  to  the 

*  And  yet  at  the  very  moment  when  these  things  were  taking  place,  a  ser- 
vant of  the  Dutch  ambassador  at  Heidelberg  met  the  procession  bearing  the 
host  through  the  street,  and  was  followed  by  two  Jesuit  students  and  a  soldier 
into  a  house,  because  he  would  not  lift  his  hat  to  it.  The  students  were  finally 
punished,  but  it  led  to  a  decree  allowing  any  one  who  met  the  pnyx  and  did 
not  want  to  kneel  to  it,  the  privilege  of  turning  into  a  neighboring  house  or 
of  going  down  another  street. 


^92  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMAIs^Y. 

Reformed  and  allowing  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  to  be 
used  conditionally  for  a  while.*  The  Elector  appointed 
a  mixed  commission  of  four,  two  of  them  Reformed,  but 
one  of  them,  Professor  Thylius,  was  at  heart  with  the 
Romanists.  But  this  commission  never  did  anything, 
and  finally  fell  of  its  own  weight  in  1728.  On  April  19 
the  division  wall  of  the  Holy  Ghost  Church  was  rebuilt, 
and  the  Reformed  again  took  possession  of  the  nave.  The 
commission,  after  long  deliberations,  decided,  May  10, 
1721,  that  the  Catechism  should  be  printed  without 
change,  provided  the  Reformed  declared  that  the  80th 
answer  referred  only  to  doctrine  and  not  to  persons,  and 
that  the  Electoral  arms  on  the  front  page  and  the  words 
"with  the  Elector's  permission'^  be  left  out.  In  1723 
the  Classes,  Avhich  had  been  discontinued  under  Elector 
John  William,  were  again  held,  although  they  had  a  hard 
existence,  for  they  met  in  the  ministers'  houses,  not  in 
the  churches.  This  was  done  after  the  old  Church  Order 
was  reprinted  in  1720  at  the  expense  of  the  ministers. 
The  Elector  carried  into  effect  his  threat  and  moved  his 
oapital  to  Manheim,  thus  leaving  a  city  that  for  six  cen- 
turies had  been  the  capital  of  his  ancestors.  He  began 
building  a  magnificent  capital  at  Manheim,  laying  out  the 
city,  as  at  present,  in  squares.  It  became  a  fine  place  of 
residence,  but  he  failed  to  make  it  a  town  of  manufac- 

*  The  confiscated  copies  were  given  back  to  them,  but  the  fines  which 
sometimes  whole  congregations,  sometimes  individuals,  had  to  pay,  remained 
in  the  treasury  of  the  Elector,  and  their  return  was  not  to  be  thought  of. 


MORE   REFORMED    OPPRESSIONS.  29^ 

tures.  The  Reformed  consistory  were  to  drive  down 
there  three  times  a  week  for  their  meeting,  which  proved 
by  and  by  impossible. 

Bnt  all  was  not  peace  yet.  The  Jesuits  endeavored  to 
gain  something,  even  by  their  defeats.  The  Protestants 
expected  that  everything  wonld  be  given  back,  as  it  had 
been  restored  at  the  close  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  Bnt 
instead,  the  Elector  made  1714  the  normal  year,  and 
between  1648  and  1714  many  changes  had  taken  place  in 
favor  of  the  Catholics.  The  Reformed,  therefore,  would 
lose  very  much  by  this  arrangement.  The  Evangelical 
States  declared  this  decision  of  the  Elector  unsatis- 
factory, and  sent  John  Yon  der  Reck,  a  Hanoverian 
statesman,  as  their  ambassador  to  the  Palatinate.  The 
Elector  became  very  angry  at  this,  and  under  severe  pen- 
alties forbade  his  subjects  from  having  anything  to  do 
with  a  foreigner  on  the  subject  of  religion.  This  put  the 
Reformed  in  a  still  more  awkward  position.  For  it  broke 
the  connection  between  the  Reformed  consistory  and  its 
defender,  the  Evangelical  States,  whose  representative 
Reck  was.  The  citizens  were  so  afraid  of  this  decree,  that 
their  fear  became  ridiculous,  for  they  would  not  even  sell 
Reck  any  medicine  without  an  order  from  the  Elector. 

Meanwhile  as  the  result  of  the  Elector's  decree,  making 
1714  the  normal  year,  instead  of  1648,  new  oppression 
arose.  The  Reformed  soldiers  had  to  kneel  before  the 
host,  and  Protestants  were  not  allowed  to  turn  their  faces 


294  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

to  the  windows  of  the  houses,  away  from  the  host,  when 
it  passed,  but  had  to  bow  to  it,  or  they  would  be  struck 
down.  At  Lautereck  the  Catholics  forbade  the  Reformed 
to  ring  their  bells  on  Good  Friday,  and  as  the  Reformed 
disobeyed,  they  were  arrested  and  put  to  hard  labor  for 
two  or  three  months.  The  Reformed  Church,  whicli  had 
lost  almost  half  its  property,  was  in  a  sad  condition.  In 
many  places  it  had  not  the  money  to  support  school- 
masters, so  the  children  were  by  force  of  circumstances 
compelled  to  go  to  a  Romish  school,  if  they  wanted  to  go 
to  any  (and  they  were  often  forced  to  go.)  Many  churches 
were  so  nearly  ruined,  that  the  Reformed  could  not  hold 
service  in  them  any  more,  without  danger  of  having  the 
roof  fall  in  on  them,  and  yet  there  was  no  money  in  the 
Reformed  treasury  to  repair  them.  Many  pastors  and 
teachers  were  unpaid,  and  had  to  leave  their  charges, 
which  were  added  to  neighboring  parishes  already  too 
large.  For  not  the  least  of  the  Reformed  oppressions  was 
the  perv^ersion  of  the  Reformed  funds  to  the  Romish 
treasury,  or  if  not  that,  the  waste  of  them,  so  that  they 
would  not  be  used  to  aid  the  Reformed.*  Thus  the 
spital  at  Oppenheim  brought  18,000  gulden  to  the  Re- 
formed in  1685.  By  the  introduction  of  the  Simultaneum 
they  received  five-sevenths  of  12,800  gulden.  In  1725  its 
Reformed    administrator    died,    and    no    Reformed    was 

■•■•  The  New  History  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  the   Palatinate  published 
in  1791,  gives  many  illustrations  of  this.     See  pages  183-9. 


THE  LUTHERANS  AXD  REFORMED.        295 

•appointed  in  his  place,  and  so  they  lost  the  income.  The 
same  took  place  with  the  rich  hospital  at  Lantern,  whose 
revenues  the  Catholics  took  entire  in  1740.  Thus  the 
Reformed  lost  so  much  of  their  revenues,  that  thej  could 
not  pay  tlieir  pastors  and  keep  np  their  churches.  Reck 
published  a  book  entitled,  "  The  Incompleteness  of  the 
Restoration  of  the  Palatinate,"  which  created  a  o-reat 
■sensation  by  such  revelations.* 

Finally  John  of  Reck  took  his  departure.  The  Cath- 
olics had  tired  out  the  Reformed.  The  Reformed  con- 
sistory was  lifeless  and  hopeless.  The  foreign  Princes 
were  displeased  with  the  inactivity  of  the  consistory. 
Money  too  failed  for  these  expensive  negotiations.  So  the 
'Condition  remained  the  same  as  before,  only  the  Reformed 
were  losing  ground.  Then  there  was  a  new  mine  sprung 
on  them  by  the  Jesuits.  The  Lutherans  were  dissatisfied 
with  the  edict  that  divided  the  church  revenues  into  five- 
sevenths  to  the  Reformed,  and  two-sevenths  to  Catholics, 
but  gave  nothing  to  them.  So  they  quarreled  with  the 
Reformed  over  the  revenues.  The  Jesuits  aimed  to 
keep    up   their   dissatisfaction,   so   as    to  divide  the  two 

■^  Just  about  that  time  there  occurred  an  event,  which,  insignificant  in 
itself,  went  the  round  of  the  courts  of  Europe  and  revealed  the  persecutions 
there.  A  woman  at  Heidelberg  would  not  kneel  to  the  host  as  it  was  carried 
along  in  the  street.  A  boj',  the  son  of  one  of  the  prominent  Catholic  fam- 
ilies, then  sprang  out  of  the  crowd  and  gave  her  a  kick  in  the  back,  so  that 
she  fainted  away,  and  had  premature  deliver;y.  This  cruel  event  the  Elector 
was  slow  even  to  take  up,  but  finally  the  pressure  of  influence  became  so 
great  that  he  had  the  boy  whipped  and  put  to  prison. 


296  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Protestant  Churches.  The  Lutherans  now  demanded 
that  75,000  guldin  be  given  them  so  as  to  settle  the  mat- 
ter. So  the  Reformed  consistory  called  a  Synod  of  the 
Reformed  at  Heidelberg  in  1736.  It  consisted  of  the 
pastors  of  the  three  main  towns,  Heidelberg,  Frankenthal 
and  Manheim,  and  the  inspectors  of  the  various  districts. 
They  agreed  to  raise  15,000  gulden  for  the  Lutherans,  and 
settle  the  matter.  This  they  hoped  to  raise  by  collections 
in  Protestant  lands.  This,  however,  was  only  possible 
when  the  Reformed  got  back  their  own  endowments.  But 
the  Reformed  were  never  able  to  fulfill  the  agreement^ 
owing  to  their  extreme  poverty.  Still  this  Synod  brought 
about  a  better  understanding  between  the  two  denomina- 
tions, and  the  unkind  feelings  that  had  existed  for  about 
a  quarter  of  a  century  passed  away.  In  1743  the  Elector 
died,  after  a  reign  of  constant  oppression  on  the  Reformed. 
During  his  reign,  one-fourth  of  his  population  emigrated 
to  other  lands,  many  of  them  to  America.  It  was  during 
his  reign  that  the  Reformed  consistory,  poor  and  weak  as 
it  was,  commissioned  George  Michael  Weiss  to  America, 
with  a  company  of  emigrants,  who  founded  the  First 
Reformed  Church  of  Philadelphia. 


CHAPTER  III.— SECTION  III. 

ELECTOR  CHARLES  THEODORE  (1743-99)  AND  THE  COR- 
RUPTION OF  THE  REFORMED  CONSISTORY. 

By  the  judgment  of  God  the  last  Elector  died  childless.* 
So  the  Palatinate  fell  to  a  new  line  of  Palatinate  Princes, 
which  was  looked  npon  at  the  time  as  somewhat  more 
liberal.  The  persecutions  of  the  Reformed  seemed  less 
violent.  But  the  Jesuits  gained  control  over  him,  and 
then  they  increased  the  persecutions.  However  the 
oppressions  now  came  more  by  moral  force  than  by  physi- 
cal suffering.  His  reign  began  by  an  order  putting  the 
Reformed  out  of  all  political  positions,  although  they 
were  the  laro^er  part  of  the  population.  These  positions 
he  of  course  filled  with  Catholics.  The  last  Reformed 
member  of  the  Electoral  Council,  Lulls,  Avas  dismissed. 
Where  the  Reformed  officials  were  old,  they  were  per- 
mitted to  remain  till  they  died,  and  then  their  offices  were 
filled  by  Romanists,  but  the  younger  ones  were  either 
transferred  to  other  less  important  offices  (where  their 
influence  on  the  State  was  lost)  or  else  dismissed.  Among 
the  body  guards  of  the  Elector   for   tw^enty-five   years, 

*  It  is  remarkable  how  God  punished  the  Electors  who  persecuted  the 
Reformed,  just  as  he  did  Louis  XIV.  No  son  of  theirs  ever  sat  on  the  throne, 
for  these  Electors  were  childless. 

20 


298     THE  REFORMED  CHURCH  OF  GERMANY. 

although  two-thirds  of  his  population  were  Protestant^  yet 
there  was  but  one  Protestant,  and  he  a  Lutheran.  Rom- 
ish officials  were  aj^pointed  in  all  the  districts,  even  down, 
it  is  said,  to  the  midwife.  It  is  said  that  where  there  was 
only  one  Catholic,  and  he  a  cow-herd,  he  would  be  made  a 
magistrate.*  The  Elector,  in  order  to  save  expense,  had 
appointed  the  Reformed  pastors  of  Heidelberg  as  the  pro- 
fessors of  Reformed  theology  in  the  university.  Xow, 
however,  he  began  to  replace  them  by  appointing  Roman- 
ists. The  consistory  reminded  him  that  all  this  was  con- 
trary to  the  Halle  recess,  for  now  the  professors  were 
twenty  Catholics,  four  Reformed  and  one  Lutheran  (and 
he  a  dancing  master. )t 

But  the  worst  phase  of  the  treatment  of  the  Reformed 
was  the  corruption  of  the  consistory.  This  organization 
had  always  been  the  bulwark  against  Romish  aggressions, 
especially  when  Fabricius,  Aclienbach  and  Mieg  were  in 
it.  The  Jesuits  had  tried  to  rob  it  of  its  power  by  exter- 
nal force.  Since  they  found  they  could  not  destroy  its 
power  by  force,  they  tried  to  demoralize  it,  for  they  will 
stop  at  nothing  in  order  to  gain  their  ends.  They  enlarged 
the  consistory  from  six  to  eighteen,  the   marriage  court 

•^'"  Yes  it  was  facetiously  said  that  if  a  Catholic  man  could  not  be  found  for 
magistrate,  a  midwife,  if  a  Catholic,  would  be  appointed,  rather  than  a  Pro- 
testant. 

■f"  The  university  auditorium  was  divided  between  them,  but  the  Jesuits 
gained  control  of  all  the  rooms  but  one.  For  a  while  the  Reformed  used 
this  one,  but  then  a  disciple  of  St.  Ignatius  took  it  and  put  his  desk  before  the 
door,  to  which  the  Reformed  had  the  key,  and  so  kept  them  out. 


CORRUPTION   OF   THE   CONSISTORY.  299 

from  four  to  eighteen,  and  the  spiritual  administration 
(which  should  have  had  two  from  each  denomination), 
enlarged  to  twenty-eight,  with  seventy  lower  officials,  who 
were  mainly  Catholics.  All  these  must  be  paid  out  of  the 
five-sevenths  of  the  funds  which  belonged  to  the  Re- 
formed, and  which  was  often  not  paid  to  them.  Many 
ministers  and  school  teachers,  therefore,  remained  unpaid, 
while  the  consistory  and  court  lived  in  luxury.  It  is  said 
that  within  fifteen  years  these  councillors  stole  150,000 
florins  of  the  church  money.  It  not  seldom  occurred 
that  three  or  four  persons  received  pay  for  the  same  office  ; 
and  money  was  paid  out  for  persons  who  either  were  dead 
or  had  left  the  country.  This  payment  was  continued 
and  went  into  the  pockets  of  the  members  of  the  commis- 
sion. By  the  enlargement  of  the  consistory  many  unwor- 
thy persons  were  appointed,  as  well  as  persons  who  were 
Romish  sympathizers.  The  Jesuits  thus  hoped  to  destroy 
the  consistory  by  two  methods :  first  by  increasing  the 
expenses  of  the  court,  so  as  to  break  it  up,  and  second  by 
introducing  simony  or  bribery  into  it,  and  thus  demoral- 
izing it.  They  hoped  that  the  increased  expense  of  so 
large  a  number  of  officials  would  break  up  the  consistory. 
Thus  in  1705  the  spiritual  admin  stration  cost  6300 
florins,  while  in  1775  it  cost  33,000  florins.  A  body  so 
deep  dyed  in  the  wool  was  not  fitted  to  resist  oppressions 
on  the  Reformed.  It  was  cringing  to  superiors  and 
despotic  to  inferiors.     The  majority  could  be   bribed  off 


300  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

by  the  government,  and  was  also  bribed  so  as  to  give 
offices.  Thus  simony  or  the  sale  of  positions  of  pastors 
and  school  teachers  became  common.  These  were  shame- 
fully and  openly  sold  to  the  highest  bidder.  Some  of  the 
councillors,  as  Abraham  Muller  of  Schwetzingen,  gained 
a  shameful  notoriety,  for  he  acted  as  broker  in  knocking 
down  the  positions  to  the  highest  bidder.  Many  a  pastor 
or  candidate  could  return  after  having  oifered  1,000  flor- 
ins ($500),  without  having  attained  by  them  the  coveted 
position.  These  positions  were  not  only  sold,  but  even 
auctioned  to  the  highest  bidder.  Some  of  the  council- 
lors wanted  the  gold  deposited  before  tlie  sale,  and  then 
they  would  divide  it  among  themselves.  They  seemed  to 
have  lost  all  sense  of  shame,  for  they  guyed  each  other, 
saying,  "  How^  much  is  bid  ?  will  it  not  bring  more  V^ 
One  candidate  offered  his  list  with  thirty  louis  dors  in 
money.  The  chancellor  received  them  and  threw  them 
on  the  table  with  the  words,  "  This  is  tobacco  money." 
The  result  of  such  actions  was  that  poor  but  honest  and 
worthy  candidates  for  the  ministry  had  to  leave  the  coun- 
try, because  they  could  not  or  would  not  pay  the  extor- 
tions. Some  of  them  came  to  America.  The  government 
permitted  these  unlawful  procedures,  because  it  saw  that 
they  weakened  the  power  of  the  Reformed.  In  1754 
simony  rose  to  its  highest  point.  It  was  eating  out  the 
heart  of  the  Church  by  dry  rot.  Fortunately  there  Avas 
one  institution  that  still  remained  true  to   the   Reformed 


REFORMED   PROTEST    AGAINST   SIMONY.  301 

Church  as  a  bulv/ark  of  defence.  The  last  Protestant 
Elector,  Charles,  had  revived  the  Classes.  At  their  meet- 
ings (which  were  held  once  or  twice  a  year)  the  ministers 
of  the  Classes  of  Wiesloch,  Alzei  and  Oppenheim  lifted 
up  their  voices  against  the  simony  of  the  consistory. 
They  wanted  a  rule  to  be  made,  that  all  candidates  take 
an  oath  not  to  practice  simony  or  bribery  in  order  to  get 
positions.  But  this  request  found  only  six  votes  in  its 
favor  out  of  eighteen  in  the  consistory.  To  stop  their 
protests,  the  Elector,  January  23,  1754,  issued  an  order 
forbidding  the  Classes  to  meet.  But  as  the  Inspector  of 
Neustadt  held  a  meeting  and  some  others  followed  his 
example,  then  the  Elector  again  forbade  them  to  meet, 
August  16,  1755,  under  penalty  of  dismission,  and  so  no 
more  classical  meetings  were  held. 

Thus  the  Reformed  were  more  oppressed  than  ever. 
Since  the  Classes  were  dissolved,  they  had  no  one  to  go  to 
with  their  complaints,  as  the  consistory  Avas  corrupt  and 
the  Elector  deaf  to  them.  The  Elector's  decree  broke  the 
bond  of  union  between  the  consistory  and  the  Classes. 
For  more  than  twenty  years  the  Reformed  ministers  tried 
to  gain  the  privilege  of  holding  meetings  of  Classis,  but  in 
vain.  The  Jesuits  again  began  to  persecute  them.  But 
they  did  not  do  so  long,  for  the  Jesuits  themselves  were 
driven  out  of  the  Palatinate  in  1773  by  the  government, 
although  another  Romish  sect,  the  Lazarists,  came  in  to 
take  their  place.     Fortunately   better  elements  began  to 


302  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

appear  in  the  consistory,  as  Professors  Wundt,  Heddeus 
and  others  became  members.     They  asked  the  consistory 
in  1776  to  be  allowed  to  hold  a  Synod.     But   there  were 
still  some  councillors  in  the  consistory  who  reflected  the 
old  simony,  and  so  influenced  the  Elector  that  he   forbade 
it.     Then,  as  the  consistory  would  allow  no  Synod,  they 
elected  delegations   from  all  the   parishes,  who   were   to 
appeal  to  the  Elector  (or  the   Emperor).     They  went  to 
him,  August  25,  1777,  but  he  sent   them  away,  simply 
referring  them  to  the  edict  of  the  previous  year.     In  spite 
of  the  refusal,  a  number  of  the  two   hundred   and    four 
ministers  again  appealed  in  1781  to  the  consistory  to  hold 
a  Synod,  and    were   again    refused  in    1784,  because   the 
Elector  did  not  want  the  consistory  and  the   ministers  to 
work  in  harmony  again.     Finally  the   pastors,  in   1784, 
appealed   to   the    Evangelical    States    of  Germany,   and 
begged  Prussia  to  take  up  their  cause.     The   Elector  of 
the  Palatinate  tried  to  evade  the  matter,  as  he  had  done 
before,  by  appointing  a  commission.     But  the  Evangeli- 
cal States  sent  an  energetic  complaint  to  the  Emperor,  in 
which  they  showed  that  the  Reformed  had  been  kept  by 
force  from  holding  their  Synods.     The  Emperor  now  Avas 
the  enlightened  and  liberal  Francis  Joseph  II.  of  Austria. 
He  issued  a  decree,  ordering   the    Elector  to   allow   the 
holding  of  a  Synod,  and  to  refrain  from   abuses.     Then 
the  Elector  quibbled  again.     He   Avas  willing  to  hold  a 
Synod,  provided  he  was   represented  at  it  by  a  Romish 


A    EEFORMED   SYNOD.  303 

deputy.  The  Reformed  replied  that  their  Synods  had 
always  been  held  under  the  control  of  their  own  consis- 
tory, and  not  under  a  Romish  deputy,  and  refused  to 
concede  this.  Finally  a  Synod  was  held,  August  25-27, 
1789,  and  was  composed  of  the  pastors  of  the  three  main 
towns,  Heidelberg,  Manheim  and  Frankenthal,  and  the 
twent}^-two  inspectors  of  the  districts,  but  it  lasted  only 
two  days,  and  could  do  little  in  so  short  a  time.  Still  it 
had  this  result,  that  it  united  the  ministers  and  the  con- 
sistory together  again.  The  consistory  now  sent  a  dele- 
gate to  Ratisbon,  to  the  Evangelical  States,  to  further 
their  cause.  Unfortunately  Emperor  Francis  Joseph  11. 
died  just  then,  and  in  1792  the  French  Revolution  came, 
and  prevented  any  further  development  of  the  Synods. 
The  Romish  oppressions  remained,  while  there  were  none 
to  defend  the  Reformed,  although  gradually  their  oppres- 
sions lessened  in  severity.  In  1799  the  Elector  Charles 
Theodore  died  childless,  and  with  him  the  long  night  of 
monkish  oppression  was  past. 


CHAPTER  III.— SECTIOX  IV. 

ELECTOR  MAX  JOSEPH  AND  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  ROM- 
ISH RULE. 

Elector  Max  Joseph,  although  desceuded  from  the 
Zweibriickeu  line,  was  a  Catholic  too.  But  he  deserted 
the  policy  of  his  predecessors,  by  giving  religious  tolera- 
tion to  the  Protestants  in  his  laud.  On  June,  25,  1799,  he 
issued  an  edict,  giving  the  Reformed  equal  rights  with 
the  Catholics.  This  was  the  first  ray  of  light  and  com- 
fort they  had  had  for  a  century.  Still  they  did  not  get 
back  all  their  churches,  as  in  1648,  but  they  now  received 
their  five-seventh  share  of  the  endowment.  After  the 
death  of  Professor  Heddeus,  Wundt  was  the  only 
Reformed  professor  of  theology  at  Heidelberg,  and  finally, 
on  September  9,  1795,  after  Heddeus'  place  had  been 
vacant  for  a  long  while,  he  appealed  to  the  consistory  for 
another  professor,  and  Charles  Daub  was  appointed. 

When  the  Palatinate  fell  to  Baden  in  1802,  it  came 
again  under  a  Protestant  Prince,  the  Lutheran  Charles 
Frederick.  He,  as  a  Protestant,  allowed  the  Reformed 
their  rights.  Here-founded  the  university.  May  9,  1803. 
He  made  it  a  union  university,  and  appointed  Lutherans 
(as   Schwartz)    to   teach   with   Daub.     Other   prominent 


THEIR    RELIGIOUS   COXDITION.  305 

teachers  soon  came,  as  De  Wette,  Neander,  Paulus,  Baur, 
Ewald,  etc.,  and  the  university  began  to  bloom  again,  as 
it  had  done  in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  Palatinate  numbered  280,000  in  1783,  of  whom 
90,000  were  Catholics,  50,000  Lutherans  and  140,000 
Reformed,  who  were  divided  into  240  parishes. 

The  condition  of  the  Reformed  during  this  century  of 
persecution  may  be  described  as  a  struggle  for  existence. 
A  worldly  consistory,  a  hostile  government,  repressed  all  her 
energies,  and  her  battle  was  not  for  growth,  but  for  simple 
existence.  One  writer  described  the  style  of  preaching  as 
Jewish-German,  in  which  ^^  the  rhetoric  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment phrases  filled  the  hollow  place  of  thought,  and  the 
hjmn  book  of  1747  was  an  anthology  of  Papal  absurdi- 
ties of  the  sixteenth  century."  This  is  doubtless  a 
rationalistic  criticism.  For  there  were  many  noble  and 
excellent  men,  who  stood  up  bravely  for  their  Church  and 
for  the  right,  although  the  simony  of  the  consistory 
greatly  injured  the  spirituality  of  the  Church.  A  rumor 
having  spread  to  Holland,  that  some  of  the  Palatinate 
ministers  were  trying  to  do  away  with  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism,  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  appealed  to  the 
consistory,  to  know  if  it  were  true.  The  consistory 
returned  thanks  for  their  fraternal  interest,  but  gave  them 
such  assurances  of  adhering  to  it  that  put  all  their  fears 
to  rest. 


306  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Such  was  the  sad  history  of  the  Reformed  of  the 
Palatinate.  We  have  given  only  the  main  facts  and  a 
few  illustrations  of  the  many  oppressions  which  they  suf- 
fered. After  a  century  of  such  trials,  the  wonder  is  that 
any  Reformed  Church  remained  there  at  all.  Their  faith- 
fulness to  their  Church,  their  sacrifices  and  sufferings 
ought  to  make  our  faith  all  the  dearer  to  us.  "  The  blood 
of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  Church.'^  It  is  also  a 
precious  legacy  to  stimulate  future  generations  to  greater 
love  for  their  Church  and  greater  zeal  in  her  cause. 


BOOK    IV. 


PIETISM  (DIE  FEINEN). 


CHAPTER  I. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Pietism  ^Yas  a  movement  in  the  Protestant  Church 
which  emphasized  experience.  It  stood  over  against  dead 
orthodoxy  on  the  one  hand,  and  lifeless  formalism  on  the 
other.  It  aimed  to  make  religion  a  matter  of  the  heart,  as 
well  as  of  the  head.  Pietism  did  not  lie  mainly  in  dress, 
as  some  of  the  narrower  sort  thought  and  so  criticised 
Yung  Stilling,  because  he  no  longer  wore  their  peculiar 
garb.  It  was  more  than  outward  dress,  it  was  inward 
spirit.  It  aimed  to  develop  the  subjective  experience — 
the  inner  life  with  Christ.  And  while  doing  this,  it  also 
aimed  to  develop  the  outward  Christian  life  by  consistency 
of  character  and  activity  of  life.  And  thus  it  showed  its 
fruits  in  conventicles  or  prayer  meetings,  catechization, 
stricter  church  discipline,  the  building  of  orphanages, 
more  earnest  preaching  and  pastoral  visitation.  Pietism 
often  led  to  spiritual  awakenings  in  the  churches,  and 
became  a  great  blessing  to  the  Reformed  Church. 


308  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Pietism  was  not  quietism,  for  it  was  Christianity  in 
action.  It  was  not  mysticism,  for  it  was  practical.  It  was 
not  separatism,*  for  a  large  part  of  the  Pietists  remained 
in  the  Church.  Thus  the  Pietism  of  Spener  and  Bengel, 
and  the  Halle  school,  was  as  much  a  part  of  the  Luth- 
eran Church  as  the  dead  orthodoxy  of  their  opponents. 
To  eliminate  Pietism  from  that  Church,  would  be  to 
destroy  a  large  part  of  her  best  history  and  work.  It 
has  been  said  by  some  in  this  country,  that  Piet- 
ism was  contrary  to  the  spirit  and  genius  of  the 
Reformed  Church,  and  that  the  Reformed  Church 
cast  out  the  Pietists.  This  however  is  a  great  mis- 
take. Goebelf  speaking  of  conventicles,  says :  ^'  Such 
exercises  for  piety  or  mutual  conference  on  the  Bible  by 
plain  members,  were  never  forbidden  by  the  Reformed 
Church,  but  rather  permitted,  and  were  widely  customary.'' 
Others  among  the  best  Reformed  Church  historians  bear 
the  same  testimony.  Thus  Iken|  says  ;  "  We  must  con- 
sider Pietism  as  an  integral  part  of  Reformed  Church 
history."  Conventicles  (prayer  meetings)  therefore 
were  a  truly  Reformed  institution.  To  eliminate 
Pietism  from  the  Reformed  Church,  would  be  to  eliminate 
a  large  part  of  her  best  history.     Her  greatest  theologians 

*  One  who  separates  himself  from  the  Church  and  joins  a  sect. 

t  History  of  the  Rheiuish  Westphaliau  Reformed   Church,   Vol.    II.,  209, 
note. 

X  Life  of  Joachim  Neander,  page  22. 


PIETISM    TEULY    REFORMED.  309 

and  best  historians,  from  Lampe  down  to  the  Krum- 
machers,  were  Pietistic.  Indeed  Pietism,  instead  of  being 
opposed  to  the  Reformed  Church,  became  an  integral  part 
of  her  being.  For  it  was  the  Church,  emphasizing  per- 
sonal experience  and  religious  activity.  The  Reformed 
Church  and  her  Heidelberg  Catechism  are  experimental. 
There  was  this  diiference  between  the  Lutheran  and  the  Re- 
formed Churches — the  Lutherans  emphasized  the  objective 
or  the  outward  forms  and  ceremonies,  while  the  Reformed 
emphasized  the  subjective  or  experimental.  '^  So  we  know 
what  the  conventicle  (prayer  meeting)  is,  and  whence  it 
comes.  It  is  a  true  Reformed  institution,  come  down 
from  Reformation  times."*  As  Ebrard  says  if  ^'  In  the 
Lutheran  Church  of  Germany  there  lay  no  new  birth  at 
the  basis  of  theology,  as  there  did  in  the  Reformed,  which 
led  to  personal  experience."  Her  theology  was  sacramen- 
tarian,  rather  than  subjective  or  experimental.  Thus,  the 
Reformed  Church,  instead  of  casting  Pietism  out,  on  the 
contrary  made  it  a  part  of  her  being  and  inmost  life.  As 
a  result,  this  remarkable  difference  appears  between  the 
two  Protestant  Churches.  In  the  Lutheran  Church 
Pietism  existed  as  a  school,  in  the  Reformed  Church  it 
was  a  part  of  her  very  life  and  genius.  This  explains  Avhy 
it  was  opposed  in  the  Lutheran  Church.  They  opposed 
it  because  it  came  in  from  the  outside  as  a  novelty.     For 

■•■  Kirchenzeitung  of  Germany,  1654,  page  97. 
t  Church  History,  Vol.  IV.,  page  111. 


310  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

Spener  got  the   idea  of  it  from  the  Reformed  preacher 
Labadie,  whom  he  heard  at  Geneva.     But  in  the  Reformed 
Church  it  did  not  come  in  as  a  novelty.     It  existed  in  her 
from  the  beginning,  and  was  germane  to   her  life.     And 
although  not  fully  developed  until  the  close  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  yet  its  germ,  its  model,  existed  at  the  very 
beo'innino:  of  the  Reformed  Church,  and  it  was  in  existence 
ever  since.     The  Pietists  were  not  a  party  in  the  Reformed 
Church,  as  in  the  Lutheran,  but  a  part  of  her  inmost  life 
and  history.     Thus  Theleman,*  says  :  "  The  conventicles 
which    brought    so    much    blessing   on   the    Evangelical 
Church,   are    also    an    original     Reformed    institution.'' 
Krummacher,  the  great  court  preacher  of  Germany,   says 
of  the  Reformed  Church  of  the  Lower  Rhine  :     '^  Inward 
Christianity  was  the  watchword  of  the  faithful,  spiritual 
experience,  the  life  hidden  with  Christ,  the  death   of  self. 
Christ    in   us,  were  the  catchwords   of  their   theology." 
Indeed,  so  thoroughly  was  Pietism  the   basis  of  the  Re- 
formed Church,  and  also  her  highest  development,  that  a 
prominent  Reformed  minister  once  said  to   me,   "  In  the 
Lutheran   Church   she   was  a   school,    in    the    Reformed 
Church  she  was  the  Church,  and  not  a  part  of  it."     Hence 
in  the  Reformed  Church  those  who  held   Pietistic  views, 
were  called  by  a  different  name  from  those  in  the  Luth- 
eran.    In  the  Lutheran  Church  they  Avere  called  Pietists, 

••:•  Life  of  Lampe,  page  10,  note. 


PIETISM,    A    REFORMED    INSTITUTION.  311 

in  the  Reformed  they  were  called  Die  Feineu — the  fine  or 
the  pious. "^^ 

That  Pietism  is  originally  and  truly  Reformed,  is 
proved  not  only  by  her  best  Church  historians,  whom  we 
have  quoted,  but  also  by  the  individual  facts  of  her  his- 
tory. The  Reformed  Church  always  contained  it,  but  it 
was  fully  developed  only  by  the  latter  part  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  And  yet  the  first  century  was  pietistic. 
What  was  the  Reformation  itself  but  a  great  revival  in 
piety,  and  so  Christian  experience  became  promiuent. 
But  after  the  freshness  and  earnestness  of  the  early 
Reformation  had  worn  off,  then  came  a  period  of  coldness 
and  formalism,  when  either  the  worldly  element  in  the 
Church  again  became  prominent,  or  else  the  scholastic 
tendencies  of  the  ]\Iiddle  Ages  began  to  influence  the 
Church  again  in  her  theology.  But  over  against  this  the 
spiritual  element  in  the  Church  reasserted  itself,  and 
saved  the  Church.  Sad,  yes  fateful,  would  it  have  been, 
if  the  rationalism  of  the  eighteenth  century  had  come  in  on 
the  heels  of  the  dead  orthodoxy  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, and  the  period  of  Pietism  had  not  intervened  between 
them.  It  was  Pietism  that  prepared  the  Church  for 
rationalism,  and  saved  her  in  it. 

Zwingli  laid  the  foundations  for  the  modern  conven- 
ticles (prayer  meetings)  by  his   prophesyings.     He  laid 

*  We  find  it  difficult,  however,   in   English,   to   use  the  name  **  Feinen," 
and  so  will  have  to  use  the  word  Pietism  instead. 


312  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

the  basis  for  his  prophesyings  in  1519,  when  he  set  aside 
the  pericopes  or  scripture  lessons,  and  began  preaching  on 
the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  verse  after  verse.  After  1525  it 
was  the  custom  at  Zurich  every  morning,  except  Sunday 
and  Friday,  at  8  o'clock  for  the  canons,  ministers,  chaplains 
and  students  to  gather  together  in  the  choir  of  the 
cathedral.  After  a  brief  prayer,  a  chapter  (or  part  of  it,) 
was  read  in  the  Vulgate  or  the  Septuagint,  and  com- 
mented on  by  all  present.  Then  at  9  A.  m.  one  of  the 
ministers  explained  the  results  of  their  study  of  the  Bible 
in  a  practical  discourse  to  the  people.  From  these  prophe- 
syings came  Zwingli's  commentaries  on  Genesis,  Exodus, 
Joshua  and  Jeremiah.'^  They  were  continued  after 
Zwingli's  death. t  This  was  brought  into  Germany  by 
Lasco.  Lasco  was  accustomed  in  London  to  hold  such 
conventicles  after  the  church  service  in  which  the  sermon 
was  discussed,  or  any  other  Biblical  subject  was  brought 
up. J:  Dalton  says  :§  "  Lasco  laid  great  importance  on  these 
prophesyings.''  These  were  brought  into  Germany  before 
the  Reformed  Church  was  founded  at  Heidelberg  through 
the  Reformed  churches  at  Wesel  and  Emden,  which 
followed  Lasco's  model  at  London.  The  first  Reformed 
Synods  in  Germany,  at  Wesel,  1568,  and  Emden,  1571, 
approvedoftheseprophesyings.il     Calvin  at  Geneva  laid 

*  Herzog  Encyclopedia,  Vol.  XII.,  page  288. 

t  Goebel  History  of  the  Rhenish  Westphalian  Church,  Vol.  I.,  297,  note. 

X  Heppe  History  of  Pietism,  page  15. 

^  Life  of  Lasco,  page  392. 

II  Goebel  History  of  Rhenish  Westphalian  Church,  Vol.  I.,  420  and  424. 


THE    ANTIQUITY    OF    PIETISM.  313 

the  basis  of  Pietism  in  his  strict  church  disciph'ne^  which 
was  another  peculiarity  Avhich  Pietism  especially  empha- 
sized. Labadie,  a  century  after  Calvin,  again  brought 
Geneva  into  a  state  of  moral  reformation  by  his  elo- 
quence. But  this  movement  of  Pietism  among  the 
Reformed  of  Germany  was  not  so  much  influenced  by 
Labadie,  as  by  the  Dutch,  who  had  Pietism  long  before 
Labadie  came  among  them.*  Besides,  when  Labadie 
came  into  Germany,  he  came  as  a  Separatist,  and  his 
influence  was  for  separation  from  the  Church,  and  not 
Pietism  in  the  Church.  Long  before  Labadie  came  to 
Holland,  Pietism  was  prominent  in  Professor  Voet  (the 
renowned  professor  of  theology  and  leader  of  that  Church), 
and  in  Professor  Lodenstein,  the  two  leading  lights  of 
the  Reformed  Church  of  that  land.-  Pietism,  therefore, 
developed  as  a  part  of  the  Church  through  her  most 
prominent  ministers,  and  was  not  an  excrescence  outside 
of  the  Churcfi.  Hornbeck  says  (1660),  '^  These  prophe- 
syings  Avere  in  the  Reformed  Church  since  the  early 
Reformation,  and  were  called  by  the  church  at  Emden  and 
Wesel,  ^  prophesyings,'  after  1  Cor.  14."  Goebelf  says, 
that  the  Reformed  Synod  of  Rotterdam,  1629,  approved 
conventicles.  He  also  says  that  the  laity,  as  well  as  the 
clergy,  took  part  in  them,  and  that  they  took  up  the 
Bible,  book  by  book.     And   Voet  declared  in   1676  for 

■•"  See  Heppe'i  History  of  Pietisii). 

t  History  of  Rhenish  Westphalian  Church,  Vol.  II.,  page  209. 

21 


314  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

"  the  freedom  of  prophesying."  There  was  need  only  to 
have  a  fuller  development  of  this  early  movement  of 
Reformed  Pietism. 

Spener  was  not  the  founder  of  Pietism,  as  has  been 
claimed  by  some  of  the  Lutheran  writers,  like  Sachsse 
and  Schmidt,  in  their  works  on  Pietism,  who  seem  to 
forget  that  there  was  any  Reformed  Pietism.  But  Goebel, 
Heppe,  Ritschl  and  Ebrard  champion  the  Reformed,  and 
fully  describe  their  share  in  this  great  movement.  The 
truth  is,  that  the  Lutherans  received  their  ideas  about 
Pietism  from  the  Reformed.  Spener  heard  Labadie 
preach  in  Geneva,  and  translated  Labadie's  Manual  of 
Piety  into  German.  He  got  his  ideas  of  Pietism  from 
the  Reformed.* 

Two  causes  led  to  the  development  of  Pietism  in  the 
Reformed  Church  in  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
The  first  was  a  reaction  against  the  dead  orthodoxy  and 
formalism  that  had  crept  into  the  Church.  The  second 
was  the  rise  of  tlie  Cocceianism,  or  the  Federal  School  of 
Theology.     The  two  really  were  one,  Cocceianism  a  reac- 

*  It  was  not  the  Reformed  of  Germany  who  received  their  impulse  from 
Labadie,  but  Spener  did,  who  then  went  back  to  Germany  to  introduce  it  into 
the  Lutheran  Church.  That  was  the  reason  why  he  was  so  bitterly  opposed, 
because  the  old  Lutherans  look-^d  on  it  as  an  innovation  coming  from  the  out- 
side, and  not  in  the  genius  of  the  Church.  In  fact,  not  only  did  Spener  get 
Pietism  from  the  Reformed,  but  it  existed  in  the  Reformed  Church  of  Ger- 
many before  he  began  to  hold  his  conventicles  at  Frankford.  For  the 
Reformed  Synod  of  Wesel  endorsed  them  1568,  and  Untereyck  had  begun  his 
prayer  meetings  at  MUhlheim  five  years  earlier  than  Spener  began  his  at 
Frankford. 


CARTESIANISM.  315 

tion  against  deaduess  of  doctrine,  and  Pietism  a  reaction 
against  deadness  of  life.  Through  the  theological  contro- 
versies religion  had  become  a  matter  of  the  head,  rather 
than  of  the  heart  and  life.  It  had  been  hoped  that  the 
Reformation  had  delivered  the  Church  from  the  shackles 
of  the  scholasticism  of  the  Middle  Ages.  But  the  influ- 
ences of  past  tendencies  of  thought  were  not  so  easily 
obliterated.  Scholastic  Protestantism  came  in  with  its 
dry  dogmas  and  theological  hair-splittings.  Controver- 
sies on  minor  points  arose  between  the  denominations,  and 
also  within  them.  Finally,  against  all  this,  there  came  a 
reaction. 

But  first  there  came  reaction  in  philosophy.  For  the- 
ology and  philosophy  are  twins  (the  one  giving  the  facts, 
the  other  the  form),  but  of  the  two  theology  is  the  older 
and  greater,  being  born  of  God.  The  reaction  in  philoso- 
phy was  Cartesianism.  Aristotelianism  had  ruled  philos- 
ophy, but  Descartes,  weary  of  the  endless  disputations  of 
philosophy,  reacted  against  it.  His  philosophy  was  one  of 
doubt.  Everything  must  be  doubted,  till  proved.  But 
in  order  to  have  something  to  begin  with,  he  started  from 
the  fundamental  principle,  '^  I  think,  therefore  I  am." 
The  germ  of  later  rationalism  lay  in  this,  for  if  thinking 
is  the  beginning  of  everything,  the  intellect  is  supreme. 
As  a  result,  the  simple-minded  were  ultimately  led  to 
doubt,  rather  than  to  faith,  by  this  philosophy.  But 
Cartesianism  did  this  much  for  the  realm   of  thouo:ht :  It 


316  THE    EEFOEMED   CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

broke  up  the  fossilized  lines  of  thought,  and  stirred  men's 
minds  to  new  inquiry.  As  a  result,  there  came  a  break- 
ing away  from  older  methods  of  thought  in  theology,  as 
well  as  in  philosophy.  So  along  with  this  reaction  in 
philosophy  came  Cocceianism,  or  the  Federal  theology,  as 
a  reaction  in  theology.* 

John  Koch,  the  founder  of  Cocceianism,  was  a  Ger- 
man by  birth,  but  studied  at  Franeker,  and  then  studied 
Hebrew  and  the  Talmud  under  a  Jew  at  Hamburg.  He 
became  professor  of  theology  at  Bremen,  1629.  Seven 
years  later  he  was  called  to  Franeker,  and  1650  as  profes- 
sor at  Leyden.  In  1648  he  published  his  famous  work 
on  the  Theology  of  the  Covenants.  He  undertook  to 
introduce  a  mediating  theology  between  the  scholastic 
theology  and  Cartesianism.  He  proposed  to  apply  the 
Cartesian  principle  (that  everthing  must  be  proved,  in 
order  to  be  believed)  to  theology.  He  agreed  with  Des- 
cartes in  his  method,  but  differed  from  him  in  its  source, 
as  he  made  the  Scriptures  the  rule  of  faith,  instead  of  rea- 
son. As  Descartes  had  said,  "•  I  think,  therefore  I  believe/' 
he  said,  '^  The  Scriptures  declare  it,  and  therefore  I 
believe."  But  every  doctrine  must  be  proved  from 
Scripture.  The  great  gain  of  this  theology  was,  that  it 
led  men's  minds  back  to  a  renewed  study  of  the  Bible. 
It  made  theology  not  so  much  a  matter  of  creed  and  of 


••■  Trends  of  thought  are  like  contagious  diseases,  they  pass  quickly  from 
one  department  to  another,  especially  when  so  closely  related  as  philosophy 
and  the((logy. 


COCCEIANISM.  317 

dogmas,  as  of  the  Bible.  It  led  to  a  re-examinatiou  of 
the  Bible  and  of  the  doctrines  in  the  light  of  the  Bible. 
A  doctrine  was  not  to  be  believed,  because  it  was  in  a 
creed,  it  had  to  be  in  the  Bible  too.  And  yet,  while 
Cocceianism  was  conservative,  because  it  led  men  back  to 
the  Bible,  it  was  also  progressive  and  liberal  too.  Its 
association  with  Cartesianism  revealed  its  liberal  spirit, 
and  made  it  suspected  by  the  older  theologians.  Thus 
the  Cartesians  accepted  the  new  idea,  that  the  earth 
moved  around  the  sun.  This  was  considered  by  many  of 
the  conservative  theologians  as  contrary  to  the  Bible, 
which  said  the  sun  moved.  Thus  Benkel,  speaking  against 
those  who  held  that  the  earth  turned,  said,  ^^  that  was  a 
sure  sign  that  their  heads  were  turned."  The  Cocceians 
also  accepted  new  ideas  of  dress,  as  well  as  of  thought. 
They  broke  away  from  the  i^cdantic  rules  of  deportment 
of  the  scholastics,  and  wore  long  hair,  and  after  wigs 
came  into  fashion  in  1680,  they  wore  long  and  powdered 
wigs.  But  though  it  aimed  to  be  liberal,  Cocceianism 
was  scriptural,  and  led  men  back  to  the  Bible.  Cocceius 
developed  his  famous  theological  system,  which  is  based 
on  two  covenants.  The  first  covenant  was  of  works. 
This  was  the  covenant  with  Adam  before  the  fall,  namely 
that  if  he  did  what  was  good  and  right,  he  would  receive 
eternal  life.  The  second  was  the  covenant  of  grace. 
When  Adam  fell,  the  covenant  of  works  fell  too.  If 
Adam  was  to  be  saved,  he  must  be  saved  in  some  other 
way.     God,  therefore,  out   of  mercy,  made  a   covenant 


318  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

of  grace  to  save  him,  not  because  of  Lis  ^yorks,  but  for  the 
sake  of  the  coming  Messiah,  if  he  would  believe  on  Him. 
The  fall  of  man  was  the  dividing  line  between  the  two 
covenants.  Koch  claimed  to  be  decretal  in  his  theology, 
but  his  system  does  not  make  the  decrees,  but  redemption, 
the  centre  of  theology.  While  giving  all  the  supremacy 
to  the  divine,  it  yet  allows  larger  liberty  for  the  human, 
for  a  covenant  pre-supposed  two  persons. 

Two  special  points  are  to  be  noticed  in  his  system. 
First  his  system  of  Hermeneutics.  He  formulated  for  the 
first  time  the  proper  theory  of  interpretation  of  Scripture, 
namely  "  that  the  text  must  be  determined  by  the  con- 
text." But  in  his  intense  application  of  this  rule,  he 
held  that  the  Bible  was  so  rich  in  meanings,  that  each 
text  had  three  meanings,  allegorical,  typical  and  propheti- 
cal. This  led  his  followers  into  many  fanciful  interpre- 
tations. Still  he  laid  the  basis  for  true  interpretation  of 
Scripture.  The  other  peculiarity  was  his  view  on  the 
Sabbath.  He  held  that  the  Sabbath  was  part  of  the 
Jewish  law,  which  was  done  away  with  by  Christ  with 
the  rest  of  the  Jewish  law.*  The  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath was  not  commanded  by  God,  but  it  Avas  to  be 
observed  as  a  matter  of  expediency.  The  New  Testa- 
ment was  the  true  Sabbath.  His  low  views  on  the  Sab- 
bath caused  great  alarm. 

•••  Biblical  researches  have  since  disproved  his  position,  showing  that  the 
custom  of  the  Sabbath  existed  long  before  Moses,  and  was  older  than  the  cere- 
monial law. 


SCHOOLS   OF   CALVINISM.  319 

There  were  four  schools  of  Calvinism  : 

(1)  The  Siipralapsarian.  These  held  that  God  not 
only  foresaw  the  fall  and  permitted  it,  but  that  He  dis- 
tinctly decreed  it  by  His  will,  and  overruled  it  for  His 
glory. 

(2)  The  Infralapsarian.  They  held  that  God  did 
not  decree  the  fall  out  of  His  own  good  pleasure,  but  that 
He  first  decreed  to  create,  and  then  permitted  the  fall. 
He  then  elected  whom  He  would,  and  provided  a  redemp- 
tion for  those  whom  He  had  elected,  and  left  the  rest  of 
man  to  die  in  their  sins. 

(3)  The  Cocceian.  This  seems  to  be  a  modification  of 
the  Infralapsarian  view,  and  arranged  its  decrees  in  the 
same  order,  but  they  made  the  covenants  the  guiding 
principle.  Yet,  in  doing  this,  they  made  more  prominent 
the  human  element  in  election.  God  made  a  covenant 
with  man,  who,  it  is  true,  is  a  silent  party  in  the  election. 
Yet  this  system  shows  that  God  respected  man's  condi- 
tion more  than  appears  among  the  Infralapsarians. 

(4)  The  Sublapsarian.  They  held,  that  the  fall  of 
man  was  not  decreed,  although  foreseen.  The  aim  of 
God's  economy  was  redemption,  rather  than  election. 
God  provided  a  salvation  sufficient  for  all  men.  It  held 
to  universal  atonement,  rather  than  limited  atonement. 
It  did  this  to  avoid  the  charge  that  God  was  the  author 
of  sin,  or  the  cause  of  the  loss  of  the  souls  of  the  lost. 

It  is  customary  to  divide  the  schools  according  to  the 
order  in  which  they  placed   the  decrees.     The  Supralap- 


320  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

sarians  arranged  tliem,  (1)  election  ;  (2)  creation  ;  (3)  fall  ; 
(4)  redemption.  The  Infralapsarians  arranged  tliem, 
(1)  creation  ;  (2)  flill ;  (3)  election  ;  (4)  redemption  for  the 
elect  or  limited  atonement.  The  Snblapsarians  arranged 
them,  (1)  creation  ;  (2)  fall ;  (3)  redemption  ;  (4)  election. 

The  effect  of  Cocceianism  was  to  promote  Pietism. 
The  stndy  of  the  Bible  always  awaivens  men.  The  read- 
ing of  God's  Word  leads  to  revivals.  As  a  resnlt  Cocceius 
and  his  party  gathered  around  them  the  earnest  spiritually- 
minded  of  the  Church.  These  had  become  tired  of  dry 
dialectics  in  the  pulpit,  and  now  flocked  to  hear  the  new 
method  of  explaining  the  Bible.  As  a  result,  in  Germany 
all  the  Pietists  were  Cocceians,  although  in  Holland  the 
greatest  opponent  to  Cocceius,  Prof  Yoet,  was  also  a 
Pietist.  Thus  the  age  of  tlie  pious  (Die  Feinen)  came  up 
in  the  Reformed  Church. 

It  has  been  charged  by  some  in  this  country  that  the 
Reformed  Chnrcli  drove  out  Pietism,  as  in  the  case  of 
Horch  and  Nethenus.  But  where  one  separated  from  the 
Church,  as  they  did,  a  dozen  remained  in  the  Church. 
And  when  their  cases  are  closely  examined,  it  will  be 
found  that  they  were  not  disciplined  for  being  Pietists,  or 
for  holding  prayer  meetings,  etc.,  but  for  two  other  rea- 
sons, as  the  following :  (1)  They  abused  Pietism,  rather 
than  used  it,  and  went  further  than  the  holding  of  prayer 
meetings.  They  exaggerated  church  discipline,  and 
refused  to  administer  the  Lord's  Supper  to  those  who  were 


PIETISM   AND   SEPARATISM.  321 

ecclesiastically  worthy  of  it,  or  else  refused  to  go  to  it 
themselves.  For  this  violation  of  Reformed  Church  law, 
but  not  for  Pietism,  they  were  very  properly  suspended. 
(2)  The  State  opposed  Pietism  and  put  them  out  of  the 
Church.  The  influence  of  the  State  on  the  Church  hin- 
dered Pietism.  Ritschl  calls  attention  to  this  in  his 
Pietism,*  where  he  noticed  the  fact  that  some  Reformed 
districts  received  Pietism  at  once,  while  others  opposed  it. 
These  differences  of  results  are  explainable  because  of  the 
different  governments  of  the  Churches.  Wherever  in 
Germany  the  State  ruled  the  Church,  it  generally  cast  it 
out  at  first.  For  worldly  members  do  not  like  too  much 
religiousness,  and  Erastiauism  does  not  love  spirituality. 
The  world  in  the  Church  would  cast  it  out,  but  the  Church 
itself  did  not.  But  in  the  Northern  Rhine  region,  where 
the  Church  was  independent  of  the  State,  and  had  its  own 
autonomy,  there  it  approved  of  Pietism  and  received  it. 
Wherever  a  church  was  independent  of  the  State  (like 
ours  in  America)  it  received  it  and  so  should  we. 

So  while  comparatively  few  of  the  Pietists  were  dis- 
missed, the  great  body  of  them  remained  in  the  Church. 
Where  one  left  or  was  cast  out,  ten  remained  in  the  Church. 
We  have  no  sympathy  with  Separatism,  but  believe  in 
Pietism  in  the  Church.  Those  remaining  in  the  Church, 
were  led  by  Untereyck,  Xeander,  Lampe,  Mel  and  others, 
and  became  a  salt  to  preserve  the  Church  and  a  leaven  to 

*  History  of  Pietism,  I.,  370. 


322  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

purify  it.  This  Pietistic  movement  became  therefore  an 
integral  part  of  the  Reformed  Church.  Its  germs  were 
in  the  Reformed  Church  from  the  beginning,  and  needed 
but  favoring  circumstances  to  develop  them.  It  grew  in 
power  until  Pietism  went  over  both  Protestant  Churches 
of  Germany  like  a  wave  of  blessing  at  the  end  of  the  sev- 
enteenth and  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  centuries.  It  was 
a  new  revival,  a  new  Reformation,  a  revival  of  the  earnest 
spirit  of  the  Reformation. 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE  RISE  OF  PIETISM 


SECTION  I. 

THEODORE  UNTEREYCK. 

Untereyck  was  the  father  of  Reformed  Pietism  in 
Germany  in  the  seventeenth  century.*  Untereyck  was 
born  at  Duisburg,  June  18,  1635.  He  was  descended 
from  a  Dutch  family,  driven  out  of  the  Netherlands  for 
their  faith.  Both  of  his  parents  died  of  the  plague  when 
he  was  only  two  years  old,  and  he  was  reared  by  an 
uncle.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  went  to  the  university 
of  Utrecht,  where  he  studied  under  Professor  Voet,  the 
Nestor  of  Reformed  orthodoxy  in  the  Netherlands.  But 
he  was  more  especially  influenced  by  the  preaching  of 
those  two  ^'  sons  of  thunder,"  Lodeustein  and  Bogaart, 
"  the  shakers  of  bone  and  marrow."  He  had  had  from 
his  boyhood  an  inbred  fear  of  death.  This  increased  as 
he  grew  older  and  as  sin  gained  power  over  him,  until  it 
became  a  mortal  terror.     The  preaching  of  these  Dutch 

*  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  Labadie  began  the  movement  of  Pietism 
in  Germany,  for  Untereyck  began  his  meetings  at  Miihlheim  before  Labadie 
ever  came  to  Germany,  yes  before  Labadie  went  to  Holland.  Untereyck  was^ 
Labadie's  forerunner,  instead  of  Labadie  being  Untereyck's  forerunner. 


324  THE   EEFOEMED    CHUECH    OF   GEEMANY. 

ministers  produced  in  him  the  deepest  conviction  of  sin. 
Lodenstein  showed  how  this  dread  of  death  could  be 
driven  away,  and  his  conviction  of  sin  gave  way  to  con- 
version ^nd  peace.  He  then  went  (1657)  to  the  newly 
founded  university  of  Duisburg.  He  again  visited  the 
Netherlands  the  next  year,  so  as  to  hear  Professor  Koch 
at  Ley  den.  He  became  a  follower  of  Koch,  although  he 
hoped  to  mediate  between  his  views  and  the  scholastic 
theology  of  Voet,  and  thereby  unite  what  was  best  in 
both.  In  1659  he  traveled  to  Paris  and  then  to  England, 
where  he  met  the  Puritans  and  became  acquainted  with 
their  Pietism.  His  travels  broadened  his  mind,  and  pre- 
vented him  from  becoming  in  after-life  a  narrow  Separat- 
ist. He  w^as  everywhere  painfully  impressed  with  the 
great  need  of  a  new  revival  in  the  Church. 

In  1660  he  became  pastor  of  the  Reformed  church  at 
Miihlheim  on  the  Ruhr.  He  was  very  diligent  in  pasto- 
ral visitation,  and  also  in  catechization.  About  1665  he 
began  holding  conventicles  (prayer  meetings),  such  as  he 
had  seen  in  the  Reformed  Church  of  Holland.  They 
were  held  in  schools  or  private  houses,  and  passages  of 
Scripture  were  explained  and  applied  practically  to  the 
hearers.  As  a  result  tliere  was  an  awakening  and  revi- 
val in  the  church.  He  tlius  began  conventicles  five  years 
before  Spener  held  his  at  Frankford,  1670.  His  prayer 
meetings  proved  a  great  blessing  to  his  church.  Their 
influence   has   lasted   down   to   the    present   time.      He 


325 


accepted  a  call  (1668)  to  be  court  preacher  of  the  Land- 
gravine of  Hesse-Cassel.  When  he  left,  the  elders  of  the 
congregation  complained  to  the  Synod,  because  he  decided 
to  go  away,  for  they  were  loath  to  part  with  him.  But 
the  Synod  sustained  him.  He  wrote  a  practical  dogmatics 
on  the  basis  of  the  covenants  entitled  '^  Hallelujah,'^  for 
he  was  the  first  minister  to  introduce  the  theology  of  the 
covenants,  in  the  spirit  of  Pietism,  into  German}-.  At 
Cassel  he  had  the  support  of  the  Landgravine  Hedwig 
Sophia,  the  sister  of  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg.  He^ 
however,  found  that  he  had  no  avenues  for  practical  work 
among  the  people,  because  his  congregation  was  the 
princely  family,  so  after  two  years  (1670),  he  accepted  a 
call  to  the  St.  Martin's  church  of  Bremen,  where  he 
remained  for  twenty -two  years.  His  brief  stay  at  Cassel 
was  not  without  results,  for  it  led  to  an  edict  urging  more 
careful  catechization  in  the  churches.  This  decree  influ- 
enced the  Church  of  Hesse  for  many  years. 

Bremen  was  a  large  and  wealthy,  but  gay  and  worldly 
city.  Being  a  seaport,  it  came  in  contact  with  France,  and 
soon  with  French  fashions  there  came  in  also  French 
morals.  As  it  was  surrounded  on  every  side  by  Lutheran 
cities,  it,  although  Reformed,  still  retained  some  Lutheran 
customs.  Thus  after  the  Lutheran  fashion,  the  Reformed 
ministers  preached  on  the  pericopes  or  Scripture  lessons, 
gave  private  communion,  the  congregations  used  hymns 
as  well   as   Psalms,  celebrated  the   Lord's  Supper  every 


326  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMAXY. 

Sunday,  and  retained  the  giving  of  confessional  money. 
These  were  all  contrary  to  the  usual  Reformed  customs. 
Besides  the  Church  was  under  the  control  of  the  State, 
and  not  of  its  own  Synod.  The  ministers  did  not  com- 
pose a  Synod,  but  a  ministerium,  who  had  power  only 
to  ordain  and  install  pastors.  But  the  city  council  con- 
trolled the  Church ;  for,  although  it  allowed  each  congre- 
gation to  call  its  own  pastor,  it  yet  reserved  to  itself  the 
right  to  ratify  such  elections,  and  then  would  order  the 
ministerium  as  its  creature  to  ordain  and  install  them. 
As  a  result  of  State  control,  French  influence  and  High 
Churchism,  the  religious  life  of  Bremen  was  at  a  low  ebb 
when  Untereyck  went  there.  It  was  very  evident  that 
Bremen  would  have  but  little  sympathy  for  his  earnest 
methods. 

It  happened  that  there  occurred  just  at  that  time,  two 
events  that  made  that  worldly  city  suspicious  of  him.  The 
first  was  the  coming  of  Labadie  to  Germany  as  a  Separa- 
tist, which  led  to  the  starting  of  a  Separatistic  Church  at 
Herford.  This  alarmed  Germany.  The  other  event  was, 
that  Schluter,  a  disciple  of  Labadie's,  came  to  Untereyck's 
parish  at  Miihlheim,  and  influenced  some  of  its  members 
to  leave  the  Church,  declaring  that  the  Church  was  ''  a 
gathering  of  biting  dogs  and  filthy  swine."  Untereyck 
therefore  found  that  he  was  suspected  of  being  a  follower 
of  Labadie,  and  inclined  to  be  a  Separatist.  For  Labadie 
had  passed  through  Bremen  on  his  way  to  Herford,  and 


UNTEREYCK    IX    BREMEN..  327 

the  Bremen  city  council  was  then  imusually  sensitive  to 
anything  that  sayored  of  Labadianism.  Untereyck 
denied  the  charge  of  being  a  Labadist.  When  questioned 
by  the  ministerium  whether  he  was  acquainted  with 
Labadie,  he  answered  :  "  I  have  never  seen  him.""^  He 
thus  proved  himself  innocent  of  the  suspicion,  and  the 
city  council  ordered  the  ministerium  to  install  him,  and 
according  to  their  custom,  he  preached  a  trial  sermon  in 
the  Liebfrau  church.  The  St.  Martin's  church,  to  which 
he  was  called,  had  already  been  a  famous  church  in  Re- 
formed Church  history.  Here  it  was  that  Timan,  the 
great  opponent  of  Hardenberg,  had  preached.f  It  had 
three  pastors,  of  whom  Untereyck  was  the  first,  and  Hil- 
debrand  the  second.  The  importance  of  his  call  to 
Bremen  ^yas  that  it  secured  for  Pietism  a  hold  in  one  of 
the  large  cities,  whereas  before  it  had  been  rural. 
Untereyck's  work  in  Bremen  now  brought  it  into  promi- 
nence. 

He  began  his  work  by  preaching  heart-searching  ser- 
mons which  produced  a  great  sensation.  But  his  preach- 
ing was  comforting  as  well  as  convicting.  From  all  parts 
of  the  city  the  people  began  to  attend  his  services.  He 
began  holding  prayer  meetings  soon  after  his  arrival-. 
These  were  not  exactly  new,  for  Bergius,  the  pastor  of  St. 
Ansgari  Reformed  church,  had  held  them.     But  the  city 

*  Iken  Life  of  Neander,  page  63. 

t  See  my  "Origin  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  Germany,"  page  272. 


328  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

council  had  considered  them  a  novelty,  and  forbidden 
them.  Untereyck's  wife  also  greatly  aided  him  in  hold- 
ing these  meetings.  She  was  a  model  minister's  wife,  a 
help-meet  in  every  particular.  Thus  on  Sunday,  after  the 
church  services  were  over  in  all  the  churches,  Unter- 
eyck  gathered  the  men  in  his  house  to  converse  with  them 
familiarly  on  some  passage  of  the  Bible,  while  his  wife 
held  similar  meetings  for  the  women.  His  wife  also  on  all 
week  days  held  a  meeting  for  girls,  from  11  to  12  A.  M., 
in  which  they  went  over  the  articles  of  their  Christian 
faith.  And  on  Wednesday  and  Saturday  afternoons  she 
took  the  servant  girls  and  those  of  the  lower  classes,  and 
taught  them  the  five  divisions  of  the  catechism.  These 
prayer  meetings  drew  crowds  even  from  the  other  parishes 
of  the  city.  Mrs.  Untereyck  too  gained  a  wonderful  influ- 
ence among  the  children,  for  they  had  not  been  much 
noticed  by  the  Church  before  this.  She  was  really  start- 
ing a  Sunday  school  (although  not  on  Sunday)  long  before 
Robert  Raikes.  Untereyck  announced  these  meetings 
from  his  pulpit,  and  urged  his  people  to  attend  them,  and 
the  attendance  on  them  greatly  increased.  But  their  suc- 
cess aroused  both  tlie  ministerium  and  the  city  council  who 
took  action  against  them.  Untereyck  replied  by  saying 
that  the  Synod  of  Dort  had  ordered  them,  that  they  Avere 
commonly  held  in  the  Reformed  Church  of  Holland,  and 
that  he  had  held  them  in  the  Reformed  districts  of  the 
Northern  Rhine.     His  wife,  in  reply  to  their  criticisms, 


i 


ST.    MARTIN'S  CHURCH,    BREMEN. 


329 

quoted  the  example  of  Priscilla  in  the  Bible,  and  of  Cal- 
vin's wi  e  in  the  Reformed  Church  History.  Finally, 
owing  to  the  opposition,  Untereyck  gave  up  his  meetings, 
but  his  wife  continued  hers  until  the  end  of  her  life,  and 
did  a  most  blessed  and  successful  work  among  the  chil- 
dren of  Bremen. 

Untereyck  then  centered  his  eiforts  on  another  Pietistic 
institution,  namely,  catechization.     He  w^as  so  zealous   in 
it  that  the  ministerium  found  fault  with  him,  that  he  could 
give  private  instructions  three  hours  a  day  and   catechize 
another  half  hour,  while  he  had  not  time  to  attend  the 
meetings  of  the  ministerium.     He  also   preached  on  free 
texts,  instead  of  texts  taken   from  the  Scripture  lessons, 
which,  although  a  Lutheran  custom,  had  been  retained  by 
the  Reformed  of  Bremen,  and  he  also  made  use  of  free 
prayers.     But  the  more  he  was  opposed  by  the  other  min- 
isters, the  more  his  popularity  increased  among  the  people. 
Many  came  frorh  other  parishes  to  Jiim  to  have  their  chil- 
dren baptized.     He  also  endeavored  to  introduce  Church 
discipline,  another  institution  which   Pietism  emphasized. 
He  brought  a  memorial  before  the  city  council,  asking  tliat 
each  pastor  have  the   right  to   keep  unworthy  members 
from  the  communion,  and  also  requesting  that  a  Presby- 
terium  be  organized  in   every   congregation   of  the  city. 
But  the  council  refused.     He  was,   however,  the  first  to 
introduce  the  weekly   catechization  of  children.     Before 
this  the  clergy  had  paid  little  attention   to  the  children. 
22 


330  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

But  when  Untereyck  and  his  wife  began  teaching  them 
the  catechism,  the  movement  became  so  popular  that  after 
he  had  been  there  only  a  year,  the  St.  Stephen's  church 
requested  their  pastor  to  instruct  their  children  as  Unter- 
eyck did.  Within  two  years  after  his  arrival,  both  the 
ministerium  and  the  city  council  ordered  such  catechiza- 
tion  in  all  the  churches. 

He  also  attempted  to  introduce  another  Reformed  cus- 
tom. The  Lutheran  custom  of  bringing  confessional 
money  (beicht  pfennig)*  was  still  in  vogue  in  the  Re- 
formed churches.  Ui>tereyck  tried  to  have  this  un-Re- 
formed  custom  put  away.  But  as  the  ministers  had  to 
rely  on  this  money  for  their  support,  the  other  ministers 
opposed  it.  He  succeeded,  however,  in  having  it  put 
away  from  his  own  congregation,  although  not  from  the 
other  churches.  Instead  of  this  confessional  money,  he 
took  up  an  annual  collection,  beginning  with  1684.  It 
remained  for  Lampe  to  get  this  custom  put  away  many 
years  after. 

Untereyck  published  in  1670  his  work,  "  The  Bride 
of  Christ  Among  the  Daughters  of  Laodicea.^'  In  it  he 
defended  Pietism  in  the  Church,  and  attacked  ministers 
who  were  merely  formal.  Meanwhile  the  leaven  of  Piet- 
ism began  to  work  in  tliat  city.  He  tried  to  get  its  minis- 
ters into  its  parishes,  so  that  he   might  have  some   who 

*  At  preparatory  service   each  communicant   would  come  forward   to   the 
altar  and  lay  a  gift  of  money  on  it. 


331 


would  sympathize  with  iiim.  He  succeeded  in  haviug 
Cornelius  DeHase  appointed  as  teacher  in  the  gymnasium, 
and  afterward  had  him  elected  second  pastor  of  his  own 
church,  when  Hildebrand  died.  The  ministerium  objected 
to  DeHase's  becoming  his  assistant.  But  the  city  council 
(the  majority  of  whose  members  had  been  pleased  with 
Untereyck's  success  in  the  catechization  of  the  children) 
supported  Untereyck,  and  ordered  the  ministerium  to 
install  DeHase.  Finally  two  Pietistic  ministers  were 
called  to  the  St.  Ansgari  Reformed  church.  Thus  it 
gained  a  foothold  in  Bremen.  But  Untereyck's  life  was 
one  of  conflict  to  the  end.  As  the  leader  of  Pietism,  he 
had  many  battles  to  fight.  Through  them  all,  however, 
he  was  supported  by  the  city  councillor,  Dr.  John 
Harmes.  Just  as  Hardenberg,  when  the  Reformed  doc- 
trines were  first  introduced  into  Bremen,  had  a  city  coun- 
cillor, A^an  Buren,  to  stand  by  him,  so  Untereyck  had 
this  influencial  councillor  as  his  helper.  Erastianism  is 
generally  to  be  deplored,  yet  here  it  was  the  State  that 
urged  progress  in  the  Church  life,  while  the  ministerium 
was  opposed  to  it.  Perhaps  Untereyck  would  have  met 
with  less  opposition,  if  he  had  been  more  politic  and  less 
radical.  Nevertheless  such  a  man  as  he  was  needed  to 
break  up  the  formalism  of  the  age,  and  his  work  proved 
a  great  blessing  to  the  city,  and  to  the  Reformed  Church. 
Finally  after  a  long  pastorate  of  twenty-two  years,  on 
January  1,  1693,  he  was  called  to  his  eternal   rest.     He 


332  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

had  preached  on  Christmas  day^  but  on  New  Year  (a  New 
Year  indeed  to  him)  he  entered  into  an  eternal  jubilee 
year  with  his  Master  in  Heaven.  His  dying  testimony, 
like  that  of  Olevianus,  was  one  of  certainty,  ^^  My  soul  is 
in  a  good  condition.  I  am  sure  I  have  loved  God  with  the 
tenderest  love.^^  Two  days  after  his  death  the  ministerium 
adopted  an  action  declaring  '^  that  he  was  a  most  faithful 
minister,  and  worthy  of  praise,  and  that  they  heard  of 
his  death  with  peculiar  grief.'^  DeHase  says  of  him, 
"  His  sermons  sounded  and  penetrated  like  thunder,  while 
his  life  shone  like  a  lightning  flash. ^^  He  was  also  a 
hymn  w^riter,  and  three  hymns  are  ascribed  to  him, 
"Erleucht  mein  Licht,''  '^  Jehovah,  mein  hoechstes  Blut,'' 
and  the  Lord's  Supper  hymn,  ^^  Sieh  doch  da  mein  Fleish 
und  Bhit."  They  have  a  true  poetic  ring  and  breathe  an 
earnest  Christian  consciousness  and  hope. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  11. 
NETHENUS  AND  COPPER. 

Although  these  two  were  dismissed  in  the  Reformed 
Church,  their  history  reveals  that  they  were  not  dismissed 
for  Pietism. 

Samuel  Nethenus  was  born  May  18,  1628,  at  Rees, 
on  the  Northern  Rhine.  He  was  won  for  the  Pietistic 
movement  while  at  the  high  school  at  Geldern,  and  his 
interest  in  it  awakened  by  the  books  of  Bolton  and  Baxter 
of  England,  and  of  Tellinck  and  Lodenstein  of  Holland. 
In  1650  he  was  called  to  the  Reformed  Church  of  Baerl, 
where  he  labored  with  great  success  for  thirty-two  years. 
The  county  of  Meurs,  in  which  Baerl  lay,  was  a  strongly 
Reformed  district,  separated  by  Romish  districts  from 
other  Reformed  churches.  She  developed  a  peculiar  type 
of  Reformed  consciousness.  Although  a  member  of  the 
General  Synod  of  Julich,  Cleve,  Berg  and  Mark,  she  did 
not,  like  the  rest  of  the  Classes,  send  an  elder  to  the 
Synod  until  1630,  nor  did  she  send  her  acts  to  the  Synod. 
The  president  and  secretary  of  the  Classis  did  not  change 
office  as  in  the  other  Classes,  but  held  them  for  life.  The 
county  was  under  the  control  of  Holland  from  1611  to 
1702,  so  that  the  Dutch  religious  consciousness  was 
strongly  impressed  on  the  land.     She  was   strongly   pre- 


334  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

destinarian,  aud  Dutch  influence  made  her  likely  to  receive 
Pietism  which  was  so  common  in  Holland.  [N^ethenus 
began  his  work  with  great  earnestness.  He  began  hold- 
ing prayer  meetings  and  catechization  meetings  in  i672, 
twice  a  week  in  the  houses.  These  were  approved  by  the 
General  Synod  in  1674.  A  journey  that  he  made  to  Hol- 
land in  1669,  where  he  met  Voet  and  Lodenstein,  roused 
in  him  the  thought  that  an  awakening  was  needed  in  the 
Reformed  Church.  AYith  this  thought  in  mind,  he  wrote 
the  second  part  of  his  book  (which  he  had  begun  in  1657) 
entitled,  '^  Light  in  Darkness.''  In  this  book,  while  urg- 
ing greater  subjective  piety,  he  takes  his  ground  strongly 
against  the  errors  of  Separatism.  He  believed  with 
Untereyck,  that  the  new  Reformation  must  come  within 
the  Church,  not  outside  of  her.  He  followed  up  the  pub- 
lication of  this  book  by  proposing  to  the  Classis  (1671) 
nine  propositions,  urging  a  reformation  of  the  Church. 
These  were  agreed  to,  except  those  which  ordered  the  per- 
sistently ignorant  to  be  kept  from  the  communion,  and 
which  placed  church  discipline  in  the  hands  of  the  pastor, 
instead  of  the  Presbyterium.  The  Classis  refused  these, 
because  they  said  that  Church  discipline  should  be  in  the 
hands  of  the  Presbyterium. 

Nethenus  gradually  advanced  beyond  these  views. 
He  began  to  put  all  possible  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
having  communions.  If  Classis  would  not  give  him  the 
right  to  discipline  the  unworthy,  he  would  not  hold  com- 


335 


munions.  His  congregation  became  dissatisfied,  and 
charged  him  with  going  away  two  or  three  weeks  at  a 
time  without  the  knowledge  of  the  officers.  Then  he 
woukl  come  back  on  Saturday  just  before  the  commun- 
ion, too  late  to  hold  preparatory  service,  and  too  late  for 
new  communicants  to  announce  their  intention  to  com- 
mune. His  motive  was  to  compel  the  postponement  of 
the  communion,  because  he  did  not  wish  to  give  it  to  the 
UB worthy.  They  also  charged  him  with  having  said 
when  the  communicants  appeared,  "  O  how  many  dogs 
and  swine."  The  Classis  heard  these  complaints  of  the 
congregation  and  appointed  visitors  to  the  congregation, 
to  whom  he  did  not  deny  these  charges.  They  admon- 
ished him  to  be  more  careful  about  his  conduct  and 
language.  But  he  began  in  1676  holding  back  persons 
from  the  communion  without  the  authority  of  his  elder- 
ship, which  was  clearly  an  un-Reformed  proceeding.  His 
consistory  lodged  complaints  against  him,  and  Classis 
warned  him  against  this.  But  he  went  farther*  and  capped 
the  climax  by  suddenly  announcing  at  the  Christmas  com- 
munion (1682)  that  there  were  only  four  converted  per- 
sons in  the  congregation,  and  that  the  rest  needed  conver- 
sion. This  brought  matters  to  a  crisis.  Charges  were 
brought  against  him  and  he  was  dismissed,  but  not 
deposed  from  the  ministry.  Goebel  says  that  "  His 
strict  views  about  tlie  communion  were  the  root  of  all 


336  THE   EEFOEMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

his  difficulty.''  Even  his  unwarranted  extremes  in  Piet- 
ism did  not  cause  bis  deposition  from  the  ministry. 
Dismissed  from  the  pastorate  at  Baerl,  he  Avas  called  to 
the  Reformed  church  at  Gulpeu.  Here  opponents  brought 
charges  against  him  for  holding  prayer  meetings,  but  the 
Synod  sustained  him  and  compelled  his  accusers  to  make 
an  apology. 

In  1690  he  was  called  by  the  Countess  of  Isenburg- 
Budingen  to  Birstein  (near  Frankford),  as  her  coupt 
preacher  and  consistorialrath.  She  had  read  his  book  and 
wanted  him,  for  she  was  a  pious  woman,  and  desired  to 
have  Pietistic  ministers.  But  he  found  that  the  state  of 
relio:ion  was  verv  different  from  that  in  the  Northern 
Rhine.  The  Southern  Rhine  regions  had  been  less 
affected  as  yet  by  the  Pietists.  Besides,  the  State  had  more 
authority  over  the  Church,  and  that  tended  to  blight 
Pietistic  efforts.  He  could  not  transplant  the  earnest 
sj^irit  of  the  Lower  Rhine  to  the  conservative  Upper 
Rhine.  Still  he  began  pursuing  the  same  methods  that  he 
had  used  in  the  Northern  Rhine.  As  he  found  piety  very 
low,  he  postponed  the  communion  for  half  a  year,  so  that 
the  people  might  be  better  prepared  to  receive  it.  He 
also  made  an  attempt  to  keep  back  the  unworthy  from  the 
communion.  In  all  this,  his  acts  were  approved  by  the 
ministers,  and  supported  by  the  Count's  brother.  But 
complaints  began  to  come  in  against  him,  as  that  he  had 
refused  the  communion  for  three-fourths  of  a  year  to  the 


NETHENUS'    DEATH.  337 

congregations — that  he  had  introduced  the  Dutch  method 
of  sitting  at  the  communion,  instead  of  receiving  it  stand- 
ing, as  was  the  common  method  in  the  German  churches, 
and  that  as  in  Meurs,  he  prayed  for  a  foreign  Prince,  the 
Prince  of  Orange.  These  charges  reveal  him  as  a  man  of 
earnest  sjjirit,  but  arbitrary  and  sadly  lacking  in  tact  in 
introducing  the  needed  reforms.  The  Count  therefore 
ordered  him  to  appear  before  the  council  and  the  minis- 
ters, but  Nethenus,  instead  of  acting  the  part  of  wisdom, 
refused  to  do  so,  and  wrote  the  Count  a  sharp  letter,  in 
which  he  opposed  the  right  of  the  Count  to  rule  the 
Church.  This  act  was  contrary  to  law  or  courtesy,  and 
so  the  Count  dismissed  him,  February  14,  1696, 
after  he  had  been  there  almost  six  years.  But  he  was 
not  deposed  for  this,  only  dismissed  from  this  posi- 
tion. The  Count  of  Isenburg  was  friendly  to  Pietism 
and  prayer  meetings,  but  dismissed  him  for  his  stubborn- 
ness and  disobedience.  He  then  went  to  Amsterdam, 
where  he  died  in  1700.  He  did  not  become  a  Separatist. 
His  influence  in  the  Church  was  felt  long  afterwards. 
Heppe  declares  that  his  work  was  rich  with  blessing. 
He  seems  to  have  impressed  his  spirit  on  the  county  of 
Meurs,  where  he  first  labored.  It  is  still  customary  to 
hold  catechism  prayer  meetings,  at  which  the  pastor  is 
not  present ;  the  elders  or  laity  discuss  some  part  of  the 
catechism  and  have  a  devotional  service.     This  custom  is 


338  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

also    followed   in  some   other  parts  of  Germany,   as  at 
Elberfeld. 

Reiner  Copper  was  a  native  of  Meurs,  having  been 
born  1645.  His  trial  sermon  before  the  Classis  of  Wesel 
gave  offense,  for  in  it  he  personally  attacked  some  of  the 
ministers.  Classis  therefore  suspended  him.  As  he  could 
not  get  a  pastorate  in  the  Reformed  Church,  he  was  called 
by  the  Princess  Elizabeth  of  the  Palatinate  to  Herford  as 
her  court  preacher  in  1674.  There  he  joined  himself  to 
Separatistic  meetings.  In  1677  he  was  called  to  be  the 
Reformed  pastor  at  Miihlheim.  And  the  next  year  the 
Duisburg  Classis  received  him  as  a  member,  although  he 
had  been  a  Separatist  at  Herford.  Here  he  labored  with 
such  2:reat  success  that  he  was  called  to  the  Reformed 
church  of  Duisburg.  In  this  large  congregation  his  ser- 
mons drew  great  crowds,  even  from  Crefeld  and  Meurs. 
He  began  catechism  meetings  and  prayer  meetings.  This 
caused  some  opposition,  but  the  Presbyterium  ordered 
that,  ^^  in  order  to  avoid  all  suspicion,  to  preserve  unity, 
and  hasten  the  work  of  the  Lord  and  true  piety,  all  pri- 
vate catechizations  and  meetings  should  be  stopped  and 
changed  to  public  meetings."  It  thus  prohibited  private, 
unofficial  gatherings,  but  in  doing  so,  endorsed  public 
prayer  meetings.  This  regulation,  however,  brought  no 
relief,  but  caused  the  conflict  to  break  out  anew.  His 
colleague,  Barlemeyer,  demanded  that  this  decree  should 
be  annulled,  and  as  this  was  not  granted,  he  left  Duis- 


COPPER    BECOMES   A    SEPARATIST.  339 

burg  and  accepted  a  call  to  a  small  Reformed  congregation 
in  Jiilich  at  Kirchherteu.  Copper  remained  in  his  charge 
for  some  time  longer.  In  his  house  to  house  visitation 
he  had  come  to  the  conviction  that  there  were  very  many 
unworthy  members  in  his  church,  and  consequently  he 
altogether  refused  to  administer  the  sacraments.  The 
Presbyterium  therefore  could  do  nothing  but  dismiss  him. 
He  then  went  to  Crefeld  and  Wiewerd,  where  he  became 
pastor  of  a  Separatistic  congregation.  He  died  in  1693 
while  on  a  journey  to  Emden.  Goebel  says  of  him  that, 
although  he  had  to  sacrifice  his  position,  yet  his  efforts 
for  earnest  Christian  piety  and  Church  discipline  pro- 
duced the  most  blessed  results.  Copper  became  a  Separa- 
tist, although  Nethenus  never  left  the  Church  ;  but  it  is 
to  be  noticed  that  neither  Nethenus  nor  Copper  were  dis- 
missed from  their  places  for  being  Pietists,  or  for  merely 
holding  prayer  meetings.  They  were  reprimanded  for 
not  holding  them,  as  Synod  required,  under  the  supervi- 
sion of  the  Presbyterium.  But  the  immediate  charge 
that  led  to  their  dismissal  was  their  refusal  to  give  the 
communion  to  the  unworthy.  They  were  dismissed  for 
emphasizing  what  every  Reformed  minister  in  America 
would  claim  as  his  right,  namely  the  right  to  keep  the 
unworthy  from  the  communion.  Only  they  erred  in 
themselves  selecting  who  were  the  unworthy,  when  it  was 
the  constitutional  right  of  the  elders  to  decide  it  with 
them.  Their  cases,  therefore,  cannot  be  used  as  argu- 
ments against  Pietism. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  III. 
HENRY  HORCH. 

Hesse,  situated  so  near  Fraukford,  where  Spener 
labored,  soou  felt  the  influence  of  Pietism.  The  coming 
of  Untereyck  as  court  preacher  to  Cassel  greatly  aided  the 
movement  at  first.  But  the  people  of  the  Upper  Rhine, 
as  Hesse  Darmstadt  and  ISTassau,  were  colder  and  less 
inclined  to  experimental  piety  than  those  of  the  Lower 
Rhine,  and,  besides,  were  more  under  the  control  of  the 
State,  which  was  governed  by  the  worldly  elements  in 
the  Church.  So  there  came  a  collision  at  first  between 
Horch,  the  early  Pietist,  and  the  Church.  His  eccentri- 
cities led  him  to  Separatism. 

Henry  Horch  was  born  at  Eschwege,  December  12, 
1652.  He  studied  at  Marburg  and  at  Bremen,  where  he 
came  under  the  influence  of  Untereyck,  and  was  greatly 
affected  by  him.  He  returned  to  Marburg  in  1674  to 
study  medicine.  But  he  was  not  satisfied.  He  then 
entered  the  ministry,  and  was  soon  called  to  the  Palati- 
nate. He  was  soon  called  to  prominent  positions.  In 
1685  he  became  court  preacher  of  the  Countess  of  Sim- 
mern  at  Kreuznach.  Then  he  was  called,  in  1687,  to 
become  the  third  pastor  of  the  Holy  Ghost  Church  at 


341 


Heidelberg.  When  the  Jesuits  attacked  the  80th  answer 
of  thet  Heidelberg  Catechism^  he  boldly  defended  the 
catechism  against  them,  and  for  his  able  defense  the 
Reformed  owe  him  a  debt  of  gratitude.  He  then  went  to 
Frankford  in  1689  as  pastor  of  the  Reformed  church 
there.  He  there  preached  to  the  Jews,  and  astonished  them 
by  his  knowledge  of  Hebrew  and  Rabbinical  theology. 

Horch's  learning  gave  him  such  a  reputation  that  he 
was  called  the  next  year  to  Herborn.  Here  he  preached 
in  the  Reformed  church,  a^  well  as  taught  in  the  univer- 
sity, for  about  three  years.  Then  he  began  his  innova- 
tions. He  endeavored  to  have  the  Church  service  changed 
into  a  prayer  meeting,  after  the  model  of  the  14th  chapter 
of  1  Corinthians.  By  his  earnestness  in  catechization 
and  pastoral  work  he  had  gained  a  large  following  in  the 
congregation,  but  his  colleague,  Hildebrand,  opposed  his 
efforts  to  change  the  service.  It  happened,  too,  that  just 
at  the  time  when  he  was  dissatisfied  with  their  treatment 
of  him,  Klopfer,  a  Separatist,  who  was  located  at  Grei- 
fenstein,  two  miles  away,  gained  a  great  influence  over 
him.  Horch  then  began  attacking  the  Church,  just  as 
Klopfer  did.  He  inveigled  against  its  low  condition, 
using  severe  language  against  it.  He  also  opposed  sprink- 
ling at  baptism,  infant  baiptism  and  the  holding  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  without  a  love-feast.  He  was  clearly 
departing  from  the  Reformed  doctrines,  which  was  quite 
a  serious  matter,  when  it  is  remembered  that  he  was  a  pro- 


342  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMAIS^Y. 

fessor  of  theology.  He  was,  therefore,  suspended,  Xo- 
vember  1697,  from  his  position  as  professor  and  preaclier 
by  the  Count  of  Nassau  Dillenburg,  although  the  city 
council,  the  guilds  and  the  congregation  interceded  for 
him,  so  great  was  his  popularity.  His  dismissal  caused  a 
great  sensation  all  through  Nassau  and  Hesse.  It  led  to 
an  open  rupture  between  the  Separatists  and  the  Church. 
In  the  Northern  Ehine  the  General  Synod  of  Julich, 
Cleve,  Berg  and  Mark,  by  wise  regulations,  in  1674 
retained  the  best  elements  of  Pietism  in  the  Church,  but 
here  the  State  officials  were  not  always  so  wise.  Still, 
when  Horch  was  dismissed,  the  ministers  and  professors 
saw  the  necessity  of  elevating  tlie  piety  of  the  Church. 
So  the  magistrates  of  the  city  aided  them  in  establishing 
prayer  meetings  and  worship  in  the  private  families  and 
the  homes  of  the  members.  Thus,  though  the  Church 
cast  out  Horch  for  his  un-Reformecl  doctrines,  it  coun- 
tenanced Pietism,  wliich  ever  afterwards  became  a  great 
blessing  to  Nassau. and  Herborn  university. 

Horch  remained  a  Separatist  for  three  years,  during 
which  he  suifered  many  persecutions,  as  imprisonment  at 
Marburg.  He  also  revealed  symptoms  of  an  unbalanced 
mind,  which  explain  some  of  his  erratic  actions.  But  in 
1700  he  changed  again,  and  *wrote  to  the  Landgrave 
Charles  of  Hesse-Cassel,  and  also  to  Professor  Hildebraud 
at  Herborn,  confessing  that  he  had  brought  disorder  into 
the  Church,  and  asking  the  forgiveness  of  Hildebraud,  and 


THE   DEATH    OF    HORCH.  343 

of  the  whole  theological  faculty  of  Herborii.  He 
acknowledged  his  mistake  iu  1702  to  the  Count  of  Xassau 
Dillenburg,  and  declared  that  he  had  returned  to  the  Re- 
formed Church  again^  which  he  showed  by  attending  the 
Reformed  communion  again,  although  he  said  he  could 
not  recognize  infant  baptism  as  a  command  of  God.  He 
spent  the  later  years  of  his  life  as  one  of  the  editors  of  the 
Marburg  Bible,  a  mystical  and  prophetical  work,  and 
died  1729.  He  was  a  man  of  remarkable  o^ifts  and  P-reat 
earnestness,  but  unbalanced  and  erratic. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  IV. 

JOACHIM  NEANDER. 

Neander  was  the  father  of  German  Reformed  hym- 
nology.  He  was  born  at  Bremen  in  1650.  His  father  was 
a  teacher  in  the  Latin  school  at  Bremen,  but  died  when  his 
son  was  sixteen  years  of  age.  After  his  father's  death  he 
entered  (1666)  the  Reformed  university  at  Bremen  as  a  stu- 
dent of  theology.*  This  university  had  no  sympathy  with 
Pietism  then,  and  Neander  sympathized  with  it  against 
Pietism.  But  Untereyck's  sermons  had  already  caused  a 
sensation.  So  one  Sunday  in  autumn,  1670,  Neander, 
witli  two  of  his  companions,  went  in  sport  to  hear  the 
famous  Pietist  preach.  Man  proposes,  but  God  disposes. 
Neander  went  to  laugh,  but  stayed  to  pray.  For  in  the 
church  the  hand  of  the  Lord  laid  hold  on  the  young 
man's  heart.  Untereyck's  holy  earnestness  and  the 
power  of  the  truth  so  touched  his  heart,  that  he  was 
entirely  overcome.  Untereyck's  words  were  arrows  to 
produce  conviction.  Neander  was  unable  to  restrain  his 
feelings.  The  tears  flowed  in  streams  down  his  face, 
when  Untereyck  closed  his  sermon  with  a  free  prayer,  in 
which,  like  Jacob  at  Peniel,  he  wrestled  with   God  for  a 

«■  This  was  situated  in  the  old  Catharine  cloister  in   the   Sogerstrasse,  in 
which  the  city  library  and  the  first  polytechnic  school  are  at  present. 


JOACHIM    NEANDER 


neander's  conversion.  345 

blessing.  As  suddenly  as  a  lightning  flash  from  heaven, 
God  appeared  to  Xeander,  as  he  had  done  to  Paul  outside 
of  Damascus,  and  as  quickly  changed  the  reviler  into  the 
seeker — the  ridiculer  into  the  preacher.  His  self-right- 
eousness was  cast  to  the  winds.  His  cry  was  like  SauPs  : 
'^  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ?"  How  could  he  find 
relief  from  his  burden  of  sin  and  guilt?  He  thought  of 
only  one  way.  He  would  go  to  the  man,  whose  preach- 
ing so  strangely  moved  him.  As  he  left  the  church,  he 
told  his  companions  that  during  the  sermon  he  had 
decided  for  Christ.  They  had  noticed  that  he  was 
affected  by  the  sermon,  but,  like  SauPs  companions,  they 
had  not  heard  the  voice  of  God  calling  to  them.  They 
tried  to  dissuade  him  from  going  to  Untereyck.  Ah,  the 
ridicule  that  Xeander  had  used  against  the  Pietists,  was 
now  used  against  him,  as  they  tried  to  laugh  him  out  of 
his  serious  mood.  They  said,  it  would  be  a  misfortune,  if 
so  genial  and  jovial  a  companion  should  degenerate  into  a 
Pietistic  hypocrite. 

But  Neander,  in  spite  of  their  raillery,  remained  firm. 
Every  soul  has  a  supreme  religious  crisis,  and  Neander 
met  his  here,  as  he  left  his  companions,  and  went  direct 
to  Untereyck's  house.  This  was  not  the  first  time  that 
Untereyck  had  conferred  with  anxious  souls  seeking 
light.  His  house  was  often  an  inquiry-room,  where 
many  seekers  found  God  and  forgiveness.  Untereyck 
became  here  a  new  Ananias,  for  just  as  Ananias  led  Saul 
23 


346  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

to  Christ,  he  led  Neander  to  Jesus,  so  that  the  scales 
dropped  from  Neander' s  eyes,  as  they  had  from  Saul's. 
Now  Neander  became  indeed,  as  his  name  suggested,  a 
new  man — another  man,  a  Neander  in  reality,  as  well  as 
in  name.  John  Augustus  Neander,  the  great  Church 
historian  of  this  century,  was  a  convert  from  Judaism, 
and  then  took  the  name  of  Neander,  because  he  became  a 
new  man  in  Christ.  So  Joachim  Neander,  more  than  a 
century  before,  gave  up  the  Judaic  Phariseeism  of  his  life, 
and  became  a  new  man  in  Christ,  as  he  learned  the  bles- 
sings of  experimental  religion.  He  describes  his  condi- 
tion as  an  unconverted  person  in  a  hymn  based  on  the 
25th  Psalm  :  ^^  Ich  schseme  mich  vor  deinem  Thron"  (I 
am  ashamed  before  thy  throne).  There  are  some  in  the 
Church,  who  do  not  believe  in  sudden  conversions,  but 
here  is  the  leading  hymn  writer  of  the  Reformed,  changed 
from  a  mocker  ao^ainst  Pietism  into  an  earnest  Christian 
in  almost  an  instant  under  Untereyck's  preaching.  While 
many  conversions  may  be  gradual,  yet  it  can  not  be 
denied  that  some  are  sudden  as  here.  His  conversion  is 
also  an  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  God  honors 
the  faithful  preaching  of  His  Word." 

*  There  is  another  story  of  Neander's  conversion  that  has  come  down  to 
us.  On  one  occasion,  while  on  a  hunting  expedition,  he  followed  game  until 
night  overtook  him,  and  he  discovered  that  he  was  lost  in  the  woods  and 
hills.  He  wandered  about  awhile  in  a  dangerous  locality,  and  suddenly  dis- 
covered himself  in  a  most  dangerous  position.  One  step  more,  and  he  would 
have  gQue  over  the  dangerous  precipice  into  eternity.  Overcome  by  horror, 
he  was  for  the  moment  deprived  of  speech.     Then,  in  his  moment  of  danger, 


NEANDER    AT    FRANKFORD.  347 

ISTeander  became  a  regular  attendant  of  Untereyck's 
preaching,  and  an  ardent  follower  and  admirer  of  him. 
His  ideas  concerning  the  ministry  changed  entirely. 
Before  he  had  looked  on  it  rather  as  a  trade,  a  business, 
and  had  he  entered  it  in  that  spirit,  he  would  have  gone 
about  his  duties  in  a  perfunctory  way.  But  now  he  real- 
ized its  grave  responsibilities,  although  these  were  com- 
pensated by  the  hope  of  its  joys.  Having  found  the 
Savior  precious  to  his  own  soul,  he  knew  how  to  lead 
others  to  a  personal  salvation.  In  the  spring  of  1671  he 
accepted  the  offer  of  several  French  Reformed  families  at 
Frankford,  to  take  their  sons,  five  in  number,  to  the 
university  of  Heidelberg  and  superintend  their  studies. 
He  then  returned  with  them  to  their  home  in  Frankford 
in  1673.  Here,  during  1873-4,  he  became  an  attendant 
on  Spener's  prayer  meetings.  He  also  was  active  in  the 
French  Reformed  church  there,  the  president  of  which 
was  the  father  of  Cornelius  DeHase  at  Bremen.  But  his 
most  important  development  at  Frankford  was  his  writ- 
ing of  hymns.  Schiitz,  the  Jurist  and  a  Lutheran,  who 
attended   Spener's   meetings,    was    the    first   to    discover 

like  Olevianus  in  the  river  Eure,  he  vowed  that  he  would  consecrate  himself 
entirely  to  God,  if  God  would  preserve  his  life.  He  was  enabled,  by  God's 
providence,  to  find  his  way  out  of  danger  and  to  reach  home  in  safety.  This 
story  is  rejected  by  Iken,  Xeander's  biographer,  as  a  later  adornment  without 
historic  foundation.  Goebel  himself  says,  he  heard  a  similar  story  told  of 
Evertsen,  the  friend  of  Neander.  At  any  rate,  if  true,  it  is  very  difficult  to 
decide  at  what  period  of  his  life  it  took  place,  or  to  harmonize  it  with  the  his- 
toric story  of  his  conversion  in  Untereyck's  church. 


348  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Neander's  genius  for  hymn  writing.  This  was  probably 
the  first  time  that  Lutherans  recognized  hymns  that  came 
from  Reformed  hymn  writers.  It  is,  however,  to  be 
noted,  that  Xeander's  hymns  were  sung  at  Lutheran 
prayer  meetings,  long  before  they  were  sung  at  the 
Reformed  conventicles,  because  the  latter  clung  mainly  to 
the  Psalms  in  singing.  In  the  spring  of  1674  he  was 
called  as  rector  of  the  Latin  school  at  Dusseldorf.  This 
has  been  in  its  day  one  of  the  most  famous  schools  in 
Germany.  It  had  been  founded  the  middle  of  the  pre- 
vious century,  when  the  illustrious  Monheim  was  its  first 
rector.  It  became  an  evangelical  centre  for  the  whole  of 
the  Protestant  Rhine  land,  and  rose  to  great  prosperity, 
having  had  at  one  time  two  thousand  students. 

o 

But  when  Neander  was  called  to  it,  it  was  shorn  of  its 
former  glory.  For  the  country  around  Dusseldorf  had 
fallen  to  the  Duke  of  Pfalz  INTeuburg,  a  bigoted  Catholic, 
who  made  Dusseldorf  his  capital.  During  the  Thirty* 
Years'  War  the  school  had  been  given  to  the  Jesuits,  and 
when  the  war  was  over,  it  still  remained  in  their  hands. 
So  the  Reformed,  to  obviate  the  necessity  of  sending  their 
children  to  the  Jesuit's  school,  started  a  parochial  school 
of  their  own,  for  the  benefit  of  their  congregation.  This 
parochial  school,  under  the  control  of  the  Presbyterium  of 
the  Reformed  Church,  was  the  one  to  which  Neander  was 
called.^  He  also  aided  Lursen,  the  first  pastor  of  the 
congregation,  in  preaching  and   visitation,  although  with- 


NEANDER   AT   DUSSELDORF.  349 

out  becoming  officially  an  assistant.  In  1667  the  red 
dysentery  became  an  epidemic,  and  so  many  members  of 
the  congregation  sickened  and  died,  that  Neander  had  to 
aid  the  pastor  very  much  in  his  visitation. 

He  also  began  in  1665  to  hold  prayer  meetings,  as 
Untereyck  and  Spener  had  done  before  him.  Through 
his  faithful  pastoral  work  he  gained  a  large  personal 
influence  over  the  people,  and  his  conventicles  soon  became 
popular.  But,  alas,  they  caused  trouble,  as  he  was  not 
yet  a  member  of  the  Synod,  and  especially  as  he  just 
then  refused  to  sign  the  Reformed  Church  Order  and 
give  his  subscription  to  the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  He 
also,  with  his  colleague,  remained  away  from  church  on 
Sunday  and  feast  days.  While  his  audiences  in  the  con- 
venticles increased,  it  was  noticed  that  the  audiences  of 
Lursen  decreased,  for  which  he  was  censured  by  -the 
Presbyterium  in  October,  1676.  Beside  these  charges,  he 
was  not  blameless  in  the  management  of  his  school.  For 
he  laid  out  a  plan  of  studies,  without  consulting  the 
Presbyterium,  or  without  getting  their  sanction.  He 
postponed  examinations,  and  made  repairs  on  the  build- 
ing without  notifying  them.  He  took  vacations  without 
wa  ting  for  their  approval.  These  were  the  main  charges 
against  him.  Lursen,  who  seems  to  have  become  jealous 
of  Xeander's  popularity,  and  who  was  the  main  cause  of 
the  opposition  to  him,  was  not  an  opposer  of  prayer  meet- 


350  THE    EEFOPvMED    CHURCH    OF    GEEMAXY. 

ino-s,  for  he  had  them  afterwards  at  Dautzic.'^  He  was 
only  opposed  to  their  being  held  in  an  independent  way, 
without  the  authority  of  the  Presbyterium,  or  the  pastor, 
for  this  the  General  Synod  had  ordered.  So  the  Presby- 
terium  brought  charges  against  Xeander,  February  3,  1677, 
and  suspended  him  from  his  position  as  rector,  and  for- 
bade him  from  preaching  in  their  pulpit.  They  then 
presented  him  with  a  declaration,  which  he  signed  two 
weeks  later,  in  which  he  gaye  his  adherence  to  the  Heidel- 
berg Catechism  and  the  Church  Order,  condemned  sepa- 
ration from  the  Church,  like  Labadianism,  and  promised 
not  to  hold  private  prayer  meetings  without  the  authority 
of  the  pastor  or  Presbyterium.  This  act  of  Xeander,  in 
signing  this  declaration,  was  one  of  the  noblest  acts  of  his 
life,  for  by  it  he  had  the  courage  to  confess  that  he  was 
wrong.  It  was  not  the  question  of  conyenticles  that  was 
at  stake,  but  the  question  of  obedience  to  the  Church 
laws,  and  the  authority  of  the  Presbyterium  in  the  parish 
and  school.  He  had  been  inclining  toward  separation. 
This  declaration  brought  him  back  into  full  sympathy 
with  the  Church,  whose  honored  laborer  he  afterwards 
became. 

He  resumed  teaching  in  the  school,  to  the  great  joy  of 
his  scholars.  Lursen  soon  .  afterward  resigned  (June, 
1677).  Neander  was  destineji  to  several  disappointments 
and  slights.     Melchior  was  elected  pastor  of  the  church, 

^  Koch,  Vol.  VI.,  page  22.    Iken  Life  of  Xeander,  pages  140,  288  and  289. 


THE    NEANDERTHAL.  351 

which  disappointed  his  hopes  in  that  direction.  Then  he 
was  not  even  elected  assistant  pastor,  but  to  make  the 
disappointment  more  galling  to  him,  his  own  colleague 
was  elected  into  the  place  he  hoped  for  himself.  He  also 
hoped  to  be  elected  to  the  St.  Remberti  church  at  Bremen, 
but  was  disappointed  there.  He,  therefore,  began  to  feel 
dissatisfied,  and  to  long  for  a  more  congenial  sphere. 
But  none  opened  to  him  for  more  than  a  year.  ^lean- 
while  he  sought  to  flee  from  his  troubles  and  disappoint- 
ments, by  communing  with  God  and  writing  hymns. 
Sad  hearts  sing  sweet  songs.  David,  the  sweet  singer  of 
Israel,  sang  his  sweetest  Psalms  when  hunted  like  a 
partridge  over  the  mountains.  So  Neander,  the  sweet 
singer  of  the  Reformed  Church,  sang  his  sweetest  songs 
when  in  sorrow.  There  is  a  little  valley  situated  about 
three  miles  east  of  Dusseldorf,  near  the  little  town  of 
Mettman,  which  to  this  day  bears  the  name  of  Xeander- 
thal  (Xeander's  Valley).  It  is  formed  by  pretty  high 
limestone  cliffs  on  both  banks  of  the  Dussel,  a  tributarv  of 
the  Rhine.  These  cliffs  show  a  variety  of  formations, 
and  bear  the  name  at  present  of  "  The  Rocks,'^  and  are 
quite  woody.  "^  In  it  is  a  cavern, f  where  the  legend  says 
he  lived  without  food  for  months  in  a  cave  in  summer. J 

*  Two  railroads  reach  the  place.  The  station  of  the  Berg-Mark  Railroad, 
on  the  south  side  of  the  valley,  is  Hochdale,  while  on  the  north  side  of  the 
valley  is  the  Rhenish  station  Neanderthal. 

I  The  place  has  been  very  much  changed  by  the  marble  quarries  recently 
opened. 

X  Winkworth  Singers  of  Germany,  p.  2S6. 


352  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

But  the  leo^end  is  not  true.  Miss  Winkworth  seems  to 
leave  one  under  the  impression  that  his  persecutors  were 
the  Reformed  Presbyterium,  and  to  escape  from  them,  he 
went  to  Xeanderthal.  This  can  not  be  true,  for  they 
suspended  Neauder  during  February,  a  season  of  the 
year  when  it  would  be  too  cold  for  him  to  live  out  of 
doors  very  much.  Besides,  his  suspension  was  not  for 
months,  but  only  for  two  weeks.  I  ken*  says,  the  tradi- 
tion says  his  persecutors  were  Catholics.  This  might  be 
possible,  for  the  ruler  of  the  land,  the  Duke  of  Pfalz 
Xeuburg,  was  a  Romanist.  But  it  is  altogether  likely 
that  the  legend  is  an  exaggeration  of  the  fact  that  he 
would  go  there,  either  alone  or  with  some  of  his  students, 
and  while  there  he,  in  communing  with  nature  and  with 
God,  would  write  his  songs.  Here  tradition  glorified 
Neander  into  a  Protestant  saint.  To  this  valley,  made 
sacred  by  Neander's  life,  Tersteegen  would  come  many 
years  after  and  hold  prayer  meetings,  and  have  the  hymns 
of  Neander  sung  on  the  very  spot  where  he  wrote  them. 
Here  Neander  Avrote  his  hymns  for  his  friends  at  Frank- 
ford  and  Bremen,  and  also  for  his  scholars. f 

Neander  was  called  as  assistant  in  St.  Martin's  church, 
Bremen    on  Whitsunday,  1679,  Untereyck  and  DeHase 

*  Life  of  Xeander,  p.  150. 

f  We  have  gone  somewhat  at  length  into  this  part  of  Neander's  life,  because 
some  of  the  enemies  of  Pietism  have  said  that  Xeandei'  was  put  out  of  the 
Church  for  holding  prayer  meetings  and  for  being  a  Pietist.  We  have  shown 
the  falsity  of  this.  For  Neander  remained  in  the  Church  and  was  called 
afterward  to  Bremen  to  a  Reformed  church. 


NEANDER   AT   BREMEN.  353 

being  the  other  two  pastors.  Joyfully  he  accepted  the 
call,  for  it  was  the  church  of  his  conversion.  And 
besides  he  would  have  congenial  colleagues  in  Untereyck 
and  DeHase,  both  of  whom  sympathized  with  his  views. 
He  therefore  asked  the  Presbyterium  of  Dusseldorf  to 
release  him  from  his  position  as  rector  of  the  school. 
They  did  so,  but  in  doing  this,  stated  that  they  regretted 
his  departure,  and  bore  witness  to  the  faithfulness  of  his 
service.  He  entered  on  his  duties  at  Bremen,  July,  1679. 
His  salary  was  only  forty  thalers  a  year.  His  position 
there  was  a  very  laborious  one.  His  duty  was  to  preach 
on  extra  occasions,  to  take  the  place  of  either  of  the  other 
pastors  if  sick,  and  to  hold  the  services  at  5  a.  m.  Sunday. 
(For  he  had  never  been  ordained,  but  was  only  a  student 
of  theology.*)  One  can  imagine  him  going  through  the 
streets  before  that  hour  in  winter,  bearing  a  lantern  or 
torch  in  his  hand,  and  then  on  an  empty  stomach  (for  that 
was  the  custom  at  Bremen  then),  hold  a  service  in  a  cold, 
dimly  lighted  church.  But  still  he  was  happy  in  his 
spiritual  birthplace  under  his  spiritual  father,  Untereyck. f 
Here  Neander  published  in  1679   the  first  hymn  book  of 


*  Iken  Life  of  Neander,  page  165. 

t  The  house  in  which  he  lived  stands  next  to  the  new  pastor's  house,  as  if 
it  were  stuck  on  to  the  choir  of  the  church.  It  was  a  small  two-story  house  of 
red  brick.  On  the  stone  door  posts  are  figures  and  the  year  1639,  together 
with  an  almost  intelligible  motto,  "  Gott  sei  Schutz  und  Sehirm  bei  seiner 
Kirche."  (God  be  protector  and  shelter  to  His  Church.)  Upstairs  is  a  large 
room  still  used  by  the  congregation  for  catechization.  (See  Iken  Life  of 
Neander,  page  164.) 


354  THE   REFORMED    CHUECH    OF   GERMANY. 

the  Reformed  of  Germany  (for  they  generally  used 
Psalms) — his  "  Hymns  of  the  Covenant.''  He  was  the 
poet  of  the  Pietists.  What  Spener  and  Untereyck  wrote 
in  prose,  he  wrote  in  poetry.  He  was  the  poet  of 
the  Cocceian  school  or  the  Federal  Theology,  and 
sings  it  in  rhyme,  as  Lampe  afterwards  wrote  it  in 
dogmatics.  His  aim  in  publishing  his  hymns  was  to 
check  formalism  in  the  Church,  and  to  stimulate  experi- 
mental piety.  Its  title  is,  ''  A  and  O,  Joachim  Neander's 
Exercise  of  Faith  and  Love.''  He  followed  the  Reformed 
custom  of  printing  the  melodies  with  the  hymns,  and  com- 
posed some  of  the  melodies  himself,  as  Luther  had  done, 
for  like  Luther  and  Zwingli,  he  was  a  musician. 

But  Neander  was  not  permitted  to  live  long  here.  His 
work  was  hardly  begun  before  it  was  done.  Within  a 
year  he  sickened  and  died,  May  31,  1680.  His  illness 
was  short,  but  severe.  His  death-bed  was  a  happy  one. 
He  strengthened  himself  by  repeating  Bible  verses  and  his 
own  hymns.  One  day  a  severe  thunder  storm  came  up. 
He  expressed  a  strong  desire  that  the  lightning  flash  might 
be  his  chariot  of  fire  to  take  him  to  heaven.  His  physi- 
cian asked  him  on  the  day  he  died  how  he  felt.  He 
replied  :  "  With  my  soul  it  is  well,  but  my  body  is  feeble." 
He  asked  that  the  seventh  to  the  tenth  chapter  of  Hebrews 
might  be  read  (they  contrasted  the  old  and  the  new  cove- 
nant). His  last  words  were  Isa.  54  :  10  :  ^'  For  the  moun- 
tains shall  depart  and  the  hills  be  removed,  but  my  kind- 


neander's  death.  355 

ness  shall  not  depart  from  thee,  neither  shall  the  covenant 
of  my  peace  be  removed. '^  The  day  of  Pentecost  was  the 
day  of  his  death.  He  was  called  to  Bremen  on  that  day, 
and  a  year  later  on  it  he  was  called  to  heaven.  On  the 
day  which  commemorates  the  tongnes  of  fire  on  the  disci- 
ples' heads  which  gave  them  new  tongnes,  Neander  went 
to  heaven  to  speak  in  a  new  tongue  the  language  of  heaven. 
The  sweet  singer  of  the  Keformed  Church  joined  the  song 
of  the  redeemed  in  heaven.  "  His  sick-bed,'^  as  Hase 
says,  "  was  a  six  days'  pulpit,  from  which  he  preached 
much."  Untereyck  preached  on  the  following  Sunday  a 
memorial  sermon  on  the  third  chapter  of  John.* 

IN'eander  died  before  he  became  famous.  He  little 
dreamed  of  his  future  fame.  In  vain  does  one  search 
through  the  writings  of  Untereyck,  or  even  Lampe,  for  any 
reference  to  him.  Professor  Iken,  in  1741,  mentions  Cor- 
nelius DeHase  as  a  poet,  but  not  a  word  does  he  say  about 
Neander.  ^Neander's  life  was  short,  but  it  did  not  end 
with  his  death.  It  is  given  to  a  few  to  gain  double  immor- 
tality ;  some  are  immortal  on  earth,  as  well  as  in  heaven. 
Like  Abel,  Neander,  being  dead,  yet  speaketh.  His  life 
comes  ringing  down  through  the  ages  to  our  time  through 
his  immortal  hymns.  Who  knows  but  the  Pietistic  move- 
ment of  Untereyck  might  have  lost  much  of  its  influence. 


*  Under  Neander's  portrait  at  Dusseldorf  are  the  words  "  Immovable  in  the 
Lord."  That  was  a  key  to  his  life — the  covenant  sure  and  unchangeable — 
the  sure  mercies  of  David, 


356  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

if  Neander's  hymns  had  not  popularized  it.  Achilles 
needed  a  Homer  to  sing  his  praises.  Methodism  needed  a 
Charles  Wesley.  Protestantism  needed  a  Luther  to  write 
its  hymns,  and  Pietism  needed  a  Neander.  His  hymns 
also  inspired  new  life  in  the  congregation,  and  they  became 
popular.  "  I  had  rather  write  an  immortal  hymn,"  says 
a  writer,  ^^  than  do  anything  else."  Neander  has  written 
such  hymns,  and  they  have  made  history — the  history  of 
God's  Church.  They  led  to  awakenings  and  revivals  in 
the  Church.  They  soon  began  to  be  favorites,  and  were 
first  sung  at  prayer  meetings  and  in  the  social  circle  of  the 
home,  before  they  were  introduced  into  the  churches. 

They  were  first  found  in  Luppius'  hymn  book,  pub- 
lished at  Wesel,  1692.  The  Reformed  hymn  book  of 
Herborn  in  1694  credited  thirty-four  of  its  hymns  to 
him,  although  not  all  did  belong  to  him.  The  Bremen 
hymn  book  then  received  them  1698,  the  Lippe  1722. 
They  gradually  became  such  general  favorites,  that  at 
last  the  Reformed  of  the  Northern  Rhine  received  them, 
although  the  opposition  of  those  who  clung  to  Psalm 
singing  disappeared  very  slowly.  The  General  Synod  of 
Julich,  Cleve,  Berg  and  Mark,  after  using  Psalms  for  a 
century  and  a  half,  ordered  in  1731  a  new  hymn  book, 
which  should  have  hymns  as  well  as  Psalms.  This,  like 
the  books  of  Bremen  and  Lippe,  added  one  hundred  and 
fifty  hymns  to  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  Psalms  already 
in  use.     This   hymn    book   first   appeared  in  1736,  and 


neander's  hymns.  357 

contained  forty  of  Neander's  hymns,  seven  of  Lampe's,  and 
eight  of  Luther's.  In  1736  the  King  of  Prussia  ordered 
Neander's  hymns  to  be  used  in  the  Reformed  cathedral  at 
Berlin,  ^^eander's  hymns  are  now  found  in  all  hymn 
books,  Lutheran  as  weir  as  Reformed. 

Neander  founded  a  school  of  hymnists  in  the 
Reformed  Church,  of  whom  Lampe  and  Tersteegen  are 
the  representatives.  He  was  the  Paul  Gerhardt  of  the 
Reformed  Church.  He  was  only  thirty  years  old  when 
he  died.  If  he  could  write  such  hymns  before  he  was 
thirty  years  old,  it  is  probable  that  he  would  have 
developed  into  a  greater  poet  than  Gerhardt,  if  he  had 
lived  to  become  old  and  mature.  His  precocity  prophe- 
sied great  brilliancy  as  a  poet.  The  beauty  and  power  of 
his  hymns  is  remarkable.  His  hymns  are  subjective, 
emphasizing  personal,  experimental  religion.  His  most 
famous  hymn  is,  ''Lobe  den  Herrn,  den  m^chtigen 
Koenig  der  Ehren.''  (We  give  it,  although  it  is  impos- 
sible to  reproduce  it  in  apt  translation.) 

Praise  ye  the  Lord  !  He  is  King  over  all  creation  ! 
Praise  to  the  Lord !  O  my  soul,  as  the  God  of  salvation  ! 
Join  in  the  song,  psaltry  and  harp  roll  along, 
Praise  in  your  solemn  vibration. 

Praise  to  the  Lord !  who  in  glorious  majesty  reigning, 
Beareth  thee  upward,  on  wings  like  the' eagle's  sustaining — 
Thee  to  uphold,  arms  of  His  mercy  enfold — 
Faithful  'mid  all  thy  complaining. 


358  THE    REFOEMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

Praise  to  the  Lord  !  who  with  honor  and  blessing  hath  crowned 

thee; 
Pouring  His  gifts  out  of  heaven  like  showers  around  tbee  ; 
Think  of  it  too,  what  the  Almighty  can  do. 
How  by  His  love  He  hath  bound  thee. 

Praise  to  the  Lord !  and  let  all  that  is  in  me  adore  Him, 
All  that  hath  breath  sing,  with  Abraham's  children   bef  -re 

Him; 
He  is  our  light,  fountain  of  glory  and  might, 
Come,  let  us  kneel  and  adore  Him. 

(^Translated  by  Rev.  Thomas  C.  Porter,  D.  D.) 

Some  interesting  illustrations  are  given  in  connection 
with  this  hymn.  It  was  based  on  the  100th,  103d  and 
106th  Psalms.  It  has  been  a  great  favorite  in  the  royal 
family  of  Prussia.  It  was  the  favorite  hymn  of  King 
Frederick  William  lY.  Its  melody  was  played  every 
hour  from  the  clock  tower  of  the  Garrison  church  at 
Potsdam,  and  it  was  everywhere  sung  on  June  1,  1879, 
the  King's  golden  anniversary  of  his  marriage. 

In  March,  1813,  when  Germany  was  at  war  against 
Napoleon,  an  infantry  regiment  gathered  around  the 
Plantage  at  Potsdam  for  a  retreat.  The  chaplain  found 
the  Kolberg  battalion,  and  asked  the  commander  if  there 
could  not  be  a  church  service  there.  It  was  no  sooner 
suggested,  than  it  was  carried  out.  Two  or  three  thou- 
sand men  gathered  in  a  circle  close  to  the  Garrison 
church,  whose  chimes  played  ^'  Lobe  den  Herrn"  every 
hour.  The  chimes  would  play  the  simple  melody  the 
first  time,  and  then  follow  it  with  the  full  harmony.    The 


NEAXDER  S    HYMNS.  359 

citizens  of  Potsdam  gathered  in  the  centre  of  the  military 
circle  to  hear  the  service.  Just  as  the  minister  was  about 
to  begin,  the  musical  clock  began  to  play  at  the  hour  of 
ten.  When  the  last  note  was  done,  the  chaplain  began 
and  utilized  the  hymn,  reminding  them  that  the  hour  had 
come  to  praise  God's  name.  He  then  referred  to  the 
tomb  of  Frederick  the  Great  in  the  neighboring  Garrison 
church,  and  reminded  them  of  their  duty  to  God  and 
their  land.  The  sermon  produced  a  deep  impression, 
and  the  officers  and  men  went  away,  renewing  their  vows 
to  God  and  strengthened.  They  could  praise  God  with 
the  hymn,  even  though  they  were  on  a  retreat. 

In  1800  King  Frederick  II.  of  Prussia  made  a  tour  of 
Silesia,  and  with  his  wife  visited  the  mines  of  Walden- 
burg.  Part  of  the  festival  given  in  his  honor  was  in  the 
mines,  where  the  King's  boat  floated  on  the  ^vater.  The 
boat  was  conveyed  into  the  dark  cavern,  out  of  which  the 
stream  issues.  At  a  distance  of  every  ten  fathoms,  wax 
tapers  threw  their  radiance  across  the  waters.  From  a 
boat  stationed  seventy  fathoms  from  the  mouth  of  the  cav- 
ern mountain  music  gave  to  the  weird  and  unearthly 
scene  a  still  more  impressive  character.  As  the  royal 
party  proceeded,  suddenly  out  of  the  dim  distance  came 
the  music  of  the  choir,  ^^  Lobe  den  Herrn."  The  Kino- 
took  the  Queen's  hand  and  said  :  ''  My  favorite  Psalm, 
this  is  heavenly,"  and  turned  to  the  roAver  and  bade  him 
row  more  slowly.     Suddenly  the   boat  turned  itself  and 


360  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

floated  into  a  radiantly  lighted  grotto,  where  the  hymn 

was  again  sung  and  a  table  spread.     The  royal  couple 

were  greatly  delighted  and  said   to   the   captain    of  the 

mines,  "  we  shall  never  forget  this.'' 

Another  of  his  hymns,  "  Sieh  hier  bin  ich,"  is  famous. 

It  is  based  on  the  51st  Psalm,  the  eighth  verse.     We  give 

a  translation. 

Here,  behold  me,  as  1  cast  me, 

'Neath  Thy  throne,  O  glorious  King, 

Sorrows  thronging,  childlike  longing. 

Son  of  Mau,  to  Thee  I  bring. 

Let  me  find  Thee, 

Me,  a  poor  and  worthless  thing. 

Look  upon  me,  Lord,  I  pray  Thee, 

Let  Thy  Spirit  dwell  in  mine. 

Thou  hast  sought  me,  Thou  hast  bought  me. 

Only  Thee  to  know  I  pine. 

Let  me  find  Thee, 

Take  my  heart  and  own  me  Thine. 

•  Naught  I  ask  for,  naught  I  strive  for. 
But  Thy  grace  is  rich  and  free. 
That  Thou  givest,  whom  Thou  lovest. 
And  who  truly  cleave  to  Thee. 
Let  me  find  Thee, 
He  hath  all  things  who  hath  Thee. 

Earthly  treasure,  mirth  and  pleasure, 
Gloriuus  name  or  golden  hoard. 
Are  but  weary,  void  and  dreary 
To  the  heart  that  longs  for  God. 
Let  me  find  Thee, 
I  am  Thine,  O  mighty  Lord, 

{Translated  by  Miss   Winkworth,) 


HYMN    ILLUSTRATIONS.  361 

Some  beautiful  incidents  are  told  in  connection  with 
this  hymn.  It  once  produced  a  great  change  in  the  village 
of  Ochsenwirthshaus,  between  Boblingen  and  Tubingen. 
In  1790  there  lived  in  the  public  house  a  man  named 
Binder.  He  grew  rich,  but  as  he  became  richer,  he  became 
the  more  worldly  every  year.  He  allowed  things  to  be 
done  which  were  against  right  and  conscience,  while  before 
the  world  he  appeared  an  honorable,  respectable  man. 
One  day  he  drove  on  business  to  Altdorf  in  company  with 
his  brother.  On  the  way  the  desire  came  to  him  to  sing 
this  hymn.  He  had  joined  in  singing  it  in  church  on  the 
Sunday  previous.  The  hymn  made  such  an  impression 
on  him  that  he  hastened  home.  The  hour  for  his  salva- 
tion had  come.  When  he  arrived  at  home,  he  unbosomed 
himself  to  a  confidential  friend,  telling  him  of  his  experi- 
ence and  asking  him  to  pray  for  him.  They  prayed 
together.  Grace  conquered  him,  for  he  gave  up  his  tavern 
and  broke  away  from  his  old  companions.  He  told  them 
he  wanted  to  see  them  at  his  house  only  when  they  had 
decided  to  serve  God  and  to  leave  sin.  His  conversion 
produced  a  great  stir  in  the  little  village.  He  became  a 
blessing  to  the  whole  village.  His  house,  where  before 
dances  and  drinking  had  been  the  custom,  now  became 
the  seat  of  prayer  meetings.  God  saw  fit  to  send  sickness 
on  him,  so  that  he  was  sick  for  two  years.  But  his  sick- 
bed became  a  place  of  great  blessing,  for  he  would  talk  of 
nothing  else  but  the  grace  and  mercy  of  God.  Just  before 
24 


362  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

he  died  he  received  the  Lord's  Supper  with  such  humility, 
that  his  pastor  said  he  had  never  seen  such  a  penitent  com- 
municant. Thus  this  hymn  was  the  means  of  his  con- 
version. 

John  Henry  Palm,  an  honorable  citizen  of  Eslingen, 
who  generally  lived  at  Vienna,  prepared  himself  for  death 
on  Holy  Week,  1710.  He  rested  with  the  greatest  confi- 
dence on  the  words  of  the  hymn,  "  Meinen  Jesum  lass 
ich  nicht.''  (My  Jesus  will  I  not  leave.)  They  stayed  his 
soul  till  his  last  hour.  And  as  he  died,  he  uttered  the 
last  two  lines  of  this  hymn. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  YICTORY  OF  PIETISM. 

Pietism,  which  was  as  old  as  the  Reformed  Church, 
though  Dot  fully  developed,  now  at  last  attained  full 
recognition  and  sway  in  the  Church.  This  is  shown  by 
the  w^ay  in  which  Synods  and  Princes  and  representative 
theologians  endorsed  it. 

SECTIOIS^  I. 

ITS  ENDORSEMENT  BY  THE  SYNODS  AND  PRINCES. 

The  only  thoroughly  organized  General  Synod  of  Ger- 
many was  that  of  Julich,  Cleve,  Berg  and  Mark  on  the 
Northern  Rhine.  Other  Synods,  as  in  the  Palatinate  and 
in  Brieg,  lacked  two  elements  of  pure  Presbyterial  gov- 
ernment :  a)  They  did  not  have  elders  in  them ;  6)  They 
were  called  by  the  Prince  of  the  land,  and  not  by  the 
Church  itself.  Only  this  General  Synod,  if  we  except 
the  French  Synods,  had  these  peculiarities.  As  it,  how- 
ever, was  free  from  the  State,  it  was  the  freer  to  develop 
itself,  and  was  thus  a  truer  representative  of  the  Reformed 
Church  than  the  others.  The  subject  of  conventicles  came 
up  before  the  Duisluirg  Classis  in  1670,  when  they  took 
action  on  the  case  of  Schluter,  a  member  of  the  Reformed 


364  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

church  at  Wesel,  Avho  attacked  the  Church  and  demanded 
the  exclusion  of  the  unworthy  from  the  communion.  The 
Classis  felt  that  his  bitter  and  unjust  complaints  should 
be  answered  and  stopped.  So  it  appointed  the  professors 
of  Duisburg  university  to  reply  to  it.  The  trial  of  Schlu- 
ler  took  place  before  the  Classis,  November  4  and  5,  1670, 
in  Wesel.  He  declared  that  no  member  ought  to  be 
forced  to  go  j^nd  hear  an  unconverted  minister,  and  finally 
ended  by  denying  the  authority  of  the  Synod  over  him, 
and  appealed  to  the  Episcopal  authority  of  the  Elector  of 
Brandenburg  over  the  Church.  The  Classis  then  decided 
to  report  all  to  the  Electoral  authorities,  and  pray  them 
to  regulate  it  so  that  there  might  be  no  further  separa- 
tions from  the  Church  by  Separatists.  Schluter  appealed 
from  this  and  immediately  left  for  Herford.  The  Gen- 
eral Synod,  when  the  appeal  came  before  it,  decided  that 
as  he  had  already  separated  himself  from  the  Church,  it 
would  give  him  another  chance  ;  and  if  he  should  refuse 
to  obey  the  warning  of  its  secretary,  he  should  be  deposed. 
Schluter  refused  to  return,  and  remained  at  Herford.* 
This  action  of  the  Synod  w^as  precipitated  by  the  coming 
of  Labadie  to  Germany,  which  created  a  great  sensation. 
Immediately  after  this  General  Synod,  Colerus,  the  presi- 
dent, went  to  Berlin  to  confer  with  the  Elector  about  the 
welfare  of  the  70,000  Reformed  in  Julich  and  Cleve,  and 

■••■  From  this  we  see  that  Schluter  was  put  out  of  the  Church,  not  for  Piet- 
ism or  for  holding  prayer  meetings,  but  because  he  was  disobedient  to  the 
Church  and  separated  himself  from  it. 


PIETISM   AND   THE   SYNODS.  365 

about  the  religious  agreement  with  the  Duke  of  Pfalz- 
N euburg.  When  the  acts  of  the  Synod,  with  the  discus- 
sions about  Schluter,  were  laid  before  him,  the  Elector 
conferred  with  him  about  the  Separatism  of  Labadie,  and 
and  also  the  Landgravine  Hedwig  Sophia.  The  matter 
came  up  again,  as  the  Cleve  Synod  took  action  against  those 
who  separated  from  the  Church  in  1673.  But  this  action 
did  not  mend  matters  at  all.  For  by  the  next  year  it  was 
found  that  these  severe  measures  only  angered  earnest 
people  in  the  congregations,  and  rather  helped  than  hin- 
dered Separatism.  The  next  General  Synod,  therefore, 
1674,  took  an  action  approving  of  Pietism  and  prayer 
meetings,  but  disapproving  of  Separatism ;  and  ordering 
that  prayer  meetings,  when  held,  should  be  under  the 
supervision  of  the  pastor  and  the  Presbyterium.'^  Thus 
the  General  Synod  pursued  the  wise  policy  of  overcoming 
Labadianism  outside  of  the  Church  by  urging  Pietism 
within  the  Church,  that  is,  by  trying  to  elevate  the  life  of 
the  members  of  the  Church.  It  ordered  greater  diligence 
and  activity  on  the  part  of  the  pastors.  The  Mark  Synod 
of  1676,  and  the  Cleve  Synod  and  the  General  Synod  of 
1677  took  action,  '^that  thereafter  each  member  of  the 
Synod  should  not  only  attend  to  the  study  of  orthodoxy, 
but  of  piety,  too."  They  desired  all  presidents  of  Pro- 
vincial Synods  to  urge  more  piety  on  the  ministers  and 

■••  For  the  full  action  of  the  General  Synod,  see  Heppe's  History  of  Pietism, 
page  484,  and  Goebel's  History  of  the  Rhenish  Westphalian  Church,  Vol.  II., 
page  327. 


366  THE   HEFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

memberSj  and  to  appoint  a  special  commission,  whose  duty 
it  shall  be  to  prepare  a  work  which  would  reveal  the  sen- 
timent of  the  Synod.  The  commission  did  not  produce  a 
work,  because  William  Dieterici  published,  in  1677, 
a  work  entitled  ''  The  True  Inward  and  Outward  Chris- 
tian.'^  This  before  its  appearance  had  received  the 
approval  of  the  Mark  Synod  of  1677  and  the  theological 
faculty  of  Herborn,  1680.  ''This  book,"  says  Goebel,* 
^^  shows  how  entirely  this  Pietistic  movement  was  a  Re- 
formed one,  for  he  refers  in  it  to  the  fathers  of  the 
Reformed  Church,  Calvin,  Martyr  and  Tossanus."  The 
influence  of  Labadie  at  Herford,  where  Dieterici  after- 
wards lived,  is  not  noticeable  in  the  book.  But  his  views 
in  it  are  like  Lodenstein's  and  Untereyck's.  The  Mark 
Synod  was  so  pleased  with  it  that  it  prayed  God's  bless- 
ing on  it.  The  work  had  a  large  circulation  and  did  a 
good  work  in  showing  the  difference  between  Pietism  and 
Separatism.  "  This  book,"  says  Goebel,  ''  is  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  new  and  strong  Christian  life  that  revealed 
itself  in  the  Church."  But  the  difficulties  with  Nethe- 
nus  brought  these  subjects  before  the  Synod  again,  and 
in  1683  it  again  gave  a  deliverance  that  Separatism  is  to 
be  met  by  elevating  the  spiritual  life  of  the  Church  : 
(1)  By  discipline  against  gross  sinners  in  the  congrega- 
tion ;  (2)  by  more  attention  to  catechization ;  (3)  by 
clearer  and  plainer  presentation  of  the  truth  ;  (4)  by  care- 

*  Of  Rhenish  Westphalian  Church,  Vol.  II,  page  332,  note. 


THE   SYNODS   AND    PIETISM.  367 

fill  visitation  of  those  inclined  to  error.  Thus  the  Gen- 
eral Synod  not  only  approved  of  Pietism  by  its  action  of 
1674j  but  now  approved  of  Church  discipline  of  the  un- 
worthy, which  was  the  very  point  desired  by  many  Laba- 
dists  who  had  left  the  Church.  The  Synod  of  Julich,  in 
1685,  supplemented  this  action  by  ordering  weekly  cate- 
chization  in  addition  to  the  Sabbath  afternoon  sermon  on 
the  catechism,  and  recommending  prayer  meetings  to  the 
members  of  the  Church.  The  other  Synods  took  similar 
action,  urging  stricter  Sabbath  observance  and  a  reforma- 
tion of  the  life  of  the  Church.  Thus  Pietism  received  the 
approval  of  the  great  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  in 
Germany.  "  Prayer  meetings  after  1700  at  Miihlheim 
and  Duisburg,  and  other  places  in  the  neighborhood,  were 
held  by  the  pastors  and  permitted  by  the  Synod,  and 
brought  great  blessings,  Tersteegen  being  the  richest  fruit, 
and  in  this  century  since  1843  they  have  again  arisen  to 
their  old  strength  as  a  salt  and  leaven  of  the  congrega- 
tion.''^^ 

Another  important  Reformed  organization  was  the 
Coetus  at  Emden.  This,  the  most  venerable  organization 
of  the  Reformed  in  Germany,  was  affected  by  the  Pietistic 
movement.  The  East  Friesian  Church,  of  which  it  was 
a  part,  had  been  originally  organized  by  Lasco,  who  was 
one  of  the  originators  of  conventicles  in  London,  and  it  had 
never  lost  his  impress.     Besides,  the  Church  was  in  close 

*  Goebel  History  of  the  Rhenish  Westphalian  Church,  Vol.  II.,  page  319. 


368  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

relations  with  the  Reformed  Church  of  Holland,  as  the 
Dutch  language  was  largely  u§ed.  Thus,  the  Pietism  so 
common  in  the  Dutch  Church,  easily  aifected  this  Church. 
It  therefore  oifered  no  opposition  to  Pietism,  and  soon  its 
representative  men,  even  the  presidents  of  the  Coetus,  were 
Pietists. 

William  Alardin  was  born  at  Bremen,  .but  was  brought 
under  the  Dutch  influence  at  the  universities  of  Leyden 
and  Groningen.  He  was  an  admirer  of  Cocceius.  He 
was  pastor  of  the  Reform^^d  church  at  Emden  for  forty- 
one  years  (1666-1707),  and  was  president  of  the  Coetus 
for  twenty-one  years.*  ''  He  was  a  veritable  Boanerges,  a 
son  of  thunder,  who  could  shake  up  men's  hearts  by  the 
law,  and  then,  like  Barnabas,  the  son  of  consolation,  bind 
up  their  wounds,  so  that  they  felt  themselves  in  heaven 
with  Christ."  He  was  in  close  sympathy  with  his 
younger  colleague  and  successor  as  president  of  the  Coetus, 
Ernst  W.  Buchfelder.  The  latter  was  born  at  Bentheim, 
June  5,  1645.  He  studied  law,  but  was  converted  at 
Cassel  tlirougli  Untereyck  and  led  to  study  theology. 
He  studied  under  Yoet  and  Lodenstein  in  Holland,  but 
he  was  most  of  all  a  disciple  and  follower  of  Untereyck, 
with  whom  he  stayed  two  years  at  Bremen.  His  associ- 
ation with  Untereyck  led  him  to  entire  consecration  to  the 
Lord's  work.  He  was  called  to  Emden  as  rector  of  the 
Latin  school,  and  then  as  pastor  in  1679.     In  1687   he 

*  See  Ritschl's  History  of  Pietism,  page  377. 


ENDORSEMENT   OF    PIETISM.  369 

was  called  to  be  inspector  aud  cousistorialrath  of  Isen- 
burg-Budingen,  aud  then  pastor  at  Muhlheim  on  the 
Ruhr,  but  was  again  called  as  pastor  to  Emden,  where  he 
died  in  1711,  having  been  president  of  the  Coetus  for  the 
last  four  years  of  his  life.  He  was  a  man  of  deep  relig- 
ious experience,  an  Enoch  walkins;  with  God.  He  was 
the  author  of  only  one  German  hymn,  ^'  Erleucht  mich 
Herrmein  Licht,'^  but  it  is  a  jewel  of  Reformed  hymnody, 
says  Koch.  It  was  probably  written  in  the  memorable 
year,  when  he  heard  Untereyck.  These  men  labored  for 
twenty  years  at  Emden,  and  as  presidents  of  the  Coetus 
exerted  great  influence  to  introduce  strict  discipline,  made 
the  Coetus  more  careful  in  its  examination  of  candidates, 
and  as  presidents  made  tours  of  visitation  through  the 
churches.  Thus  Pietists  held  the  highest  positions  in  the 
oldest  Reformed  organization  in  Germany.  In  their  case 
Pietism  did  not  lead  them  to  be  looked  upon  with  suspic- 
ion, but  Avith  honor. 

Pietism  was  also  recognized  and  protected  by  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg,  later  King  of  Prussia,  who  was 
politically  the  leader  of  the  Reformed  of  Germany.  As 
he  was  the  head  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  Brandenburg, 
his  actions  committed  that  church  to  Pietism.  When  the 
Lutherans  of  Saxony  drove  Spener  out,  who  was  it  that 
received  Spener  and  his  Pietists  ?  The  Reformed  Elector 
of  Brandenburg,  who  espoused  their  cause  and  appointed 
Spener  pastor  of  .the  largest  Lutheran  church  in  Berlin. 


370  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

The  Lutherans  have  the  Reformed  to  thank  that  Pietism  in 
their  Church  was  not  crushed.  To  still  further  aid  Piet- 
ism, the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  founded  a  university  for 
them,  that  they  might  be  able  to  perpetuate  themselves. 
His  founding  of  the  University  of  Halle  for  them  is  very 
si2:nificant.  It  showed  his  endorsement  of  Pietism.  It 
was  the  first  illustration  where  a  Prince  founded  a  uni- 
versity for  a  religion  other  than  his  own.  When  collec- 
tions were  taken  for  it,  the  Reformed  Synod  of  the  North- 
ern Rhine  raised  yearly  collections  for  it,  although  the 
university  was  Lutheran,  and  although  they  had  their  own 
university  at  Duisburg  to  support.  When  the  King  of 
Prussia  married  his  third  w^ife,  the  Countess  Sophia 
Louisa  of  Mecklenburg,  Pietism  assumed  such  a  complete 
control  of  the  court  under  the  leadership  of  Porst,  that 
prayer  meetings  were  held  in  the  royal  castle,  in  whicli  the 
King  himself  seemed  to  have  participated.*  Noltenius, 
the  King's  Reformed  court  preacher,  held  prayer  meetings 
in  the  Reformed  gymnasium  in  1731,  and  Pietistic  move- 
ments were  fostered  by  the  later  Kings  of  Prussia  after 
Frederick  the  Great.  Thus  King  Frederick  William  III. 
formed  Bible  Societies  and  gave  encouragement  to  the 
work  of  Elizabeth  Fry.  Thus  the  leading  Reformed 
churches  of  Germany  endorsed  Pietism. 

*  See  SchafF-Herzog  Encyclopedia,  article  Spener.  i 


CHAPTER  III.— SECTION  11. 

ITS    ENDORSEMENT    BY    REPRESENTATIVE    THEOLO- 
GIANS OF  THE  CHURCH. 

A)  John  Henry  Hottinger. 

John  Heniy  Hottinger  was  a  member  of  the  famous 
Swiss  family  of  that  name  at  Zurich,  but  came  as  professor 
of  theology  to  Marburg  in  1705.  Following  the  example 
of  the  Lutheran,  Franke,  at  Halle,  he  founded  an  orphans' 
home  at  Marburg,  of  which  a  Swiss  candidate  for  the 
ministry  named  Giezentanner  became  preceptor.  The 
latter  seems  to  have  been  an  Inspirationist,  for  he  claimed 
to  have  special  revelations  and  direct  commands  from  God. 
This  fact  he  declared  in  a  sermon  which  produced  great 
commotion,  and  an  investigation  of  him  was  ordered. 
Hottinger  also  came  under  suspicion  because  of  his  close 
connection  with  the  orphanage,  but  the  trial  proved  his 
innocence.  Still  Hottinger  had  to  take  an  oath  that  he 
was  free  from  such  views.  But  Separatism  was  under 
suspicion  at  the  court  of  Hesse-Cassel,  and  the  Landgrave 
became  suspicious  lest  there  might  be  some  of  it  lurking 
among  the  theological  faculty  at  Marburg.  He  therefore 
ordered  them  to  give  an  opinion  whether  since  the  days  of 
the  apostles  ministers  could  expect  special  revelations  from 


372  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

heaven.  Hottinger  turned  the  answering  of  this  over  to 
his  colleagues,  Dusiug  and  Kirch  meier,  and  ^yould  have 
nothing  to  do  with  it.  But  the  Landgrave  ordered  that 
Hottinger  should  give  an  exact  statement  of  his  views. 
Hottinger  therefore  prepared  a  large  work  for  print.  But 
before  it  was  printed,  the  Landgrave  ordered  it  to  be 
brought  to  Cassel  for  examination.  Hottinger  in  it  de- 
clared that  no  revelation  could  come  to  God's  people 
except  on  dark  points  of  Scripture,  and  as  to  the  Inspira- 
tionists,  who  claimed  to  have  these  revelations,  they  must 
be  judged  by  their  works,  which  time  would  reveal. 
But  the  Landgrave  was  not  satisfied  with  this  reply,  as  it 
was  not  decisive  enough  against  the  Inspirationists.  He 
ordered  Hottinger  either  to  retract  his  position  or  resign 
his  professorship.  Hottinger  therefore  resigned  his  pro- 
fessorship at  Marburg,  but  he  did  not  by  it  lose  standing 
as  a  Reformed  minister,  for  lie  was  called  to  one  of  the 
leading  Reformed  churches  in  the  Palatinate  at  Franken- 
thal.  And  in  1723  his  great  gifts  secured  for  him  a  theo- 
logical professorship  at  Heidelberg,  where  he  died,  highly 
honored  by  the  Reformed  Church,  in  1750. 

B)  Conrad  Mel. 

One  of  the  brightest  lights  of  the  Hessian  Church  was 
Conrad  Mel,  whose  prominence  reveals  that  even  the 
State  authorities  in  Hesse-Cassel  had  learned  at  last  to 
tolerate  Pietism.     Mel  has  been  called  "  The  Spener  of 


CONRAD    MEL.  37S 

Hesse-Cassel/^  and  was  a  worthy  successor  of  Uutereyck, 
who  had  been  court  preacher  at  Cassel.  Mel  was  born  at 
Gudensberg  in  Hesse-Cassel,  August  14,  1666.  He 
studied  at  Bremen,  where  he  came  under  the  influence  of 
Unterejck.  He  called  Unterevck  his  "Gamaliel,"  at 
whose  feet,  like  Paul,  he  sat.  After  completing  his  studies 
at  Groningen,  the  Landgravine  of  Hesse-Cassel,  a  princess 
of  Curland,  sent  him  as  pastor  to  Mitau,  in  Poland,  1690. 
After  a  pastorate  also  at  Memel,  his  rare  gifts  led  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg  to  appoint  him  his  court  preacher 
at  Konigsberg  and  professor  in  the  university  there. 
Here  he  held  conventicles  on  Sunday  evenings.  So  great 
a  preacher  and  scholar  could  not  remain  unnoticed  by  his 
native  land.  So  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  called  him,  in 
1705,  as  rector  of  Hersfeld  and  inspector  of  the  Reformed 
churches  of  that  district.  Here  he  remained  for  twenty- 
eight  years.  He  introduced  thorough  scholarship  into  the 
school  and  urged  the  development  of  piety  as  Avell  as  of 
the  intellect.  He  urged  the  students  to  attend  prayer 
meetings  and  catechization.  His  efforts  resulted  in  a  great 
spiritual  awakening  in  his  district.  His  school  prospered 
so  that  it  became  the  largest  in  Hesse,  surpassing  even  the 
university  of  Marburg  in  the  number  of  its  students. 
Some  of  the  Marburg  students  came  to  it  to  get  a  more 
thorough  study  of  Greek,  Hebrew  and  history,  as  well  as 
to  attend  his  catechetical  lectures,  which  were  famous. 
Like  the  Lutheran  school  of  Pietists  at  Halle,  he  founded 


374  THE   REFOKMED   CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

an  orphans'  home  in  1709.  He  found  a  patron  for  his 
movements  in  the  Landgravine  of  Hesse,  who  highly 
honored  him  and  sympathized  with  him  in  his  work. 
This  orphanage  was  large  enongh  to  contain  twenty-fonr 
orphans  and  was  named  after  the  Landgravine.  He  also 
gained  great  reputation  as  a  writer.  His  prayer  book, 
issued  in  1715,  called  ^^  The  Delight  of  the  Saints  in  Jeho- 
vah," became  very  popular.  It  was  found  in  the  library 
of  the  Prince  as  well  as  in  the  home  of  the  farmer.  It 
reached  its  sixteenth  edition  by  1783,  and  is  still  an 
honored  book  in  Hesse,  especially  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Hersfeld.  He  died  May  3,  1733,  after  saying  to  those 
around  him  :  ^'  My  house  is  promised.''  His  death  caused 
universal  sorrow  throughout  all  the  laud.  Many  beauti- 
ful things  were  said  of  him  at  his  grave,  but  the  best  was, 
that  in  all  his  twenty-eight  years  of  service  at  Hersfeld  no 
one  had  ever  seen  him  angry.  When  the  Chapter  church 
became  a  ruin  in  1761,  his  grave  was  lost,  but  his  name 
remains  enbalmed  in  the  hearts  of  the  Hessian  people.  He 
combined  in  a  w^ouderful  way  breadth  and  exactness  of 
thought  with  depth  of  piety,  theological  research  with 
practical  tact.  He  was  noted  as  a  pulpit  orator  and  was 
the  great  leader  of  Hessian  Pietism  there  in  his  day. 

C)  Frederick  A.  Lampe. 

Frederick  A.  Lampe  was,  says  Goebel,  "the  greatest 
theologian  in  the  German  Reformed  Church  since  the 
Reformation,  and  the   most  influential  in   the  eiohteenth 


lampe's  ancestry.  375 

centuiy/'*  Tlielemaut  quoting  from  Goebel  says  :  ''  One 
cannot  sufficiently  estimate  the  influence  of  Lampe  even 
to-day,  and  in  this  respect  place  him  beside  Bengel  fifty 
years  later,  and  Schleiermacher  a  century  later."  Their 
tributes  to  him  reveal  that  the  most  representative  theo- 
logian of  the  German  Eeformed  Church  was  a  Pietist. 
He  completes  the  victory  of  Pietism  in  the  Eeformed 
Church. 

He  was  born  February  18,  1683,  atDetmoldinLippe. 
His  father  was  the  second  pastor  of  the  Reformed  church 
there,  and  afterwards  pastor  at  Frankford  on  the  Main, 
and  court  preacher  of  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  at 
Konigsburg.     Lampe  could  say  : 

"  My  boast  is  not  that  I  deduce  my  birth, 
From  loins  enthroned,  the  rulers' of  the  earth. 
But  higher  far  my  proud  pretensions  rise 
The  son  of  parents  passed  into  the  skies." 

—  Cowper. 

He  was  descended  from  pious  ancestry  on  all  sides. 

His  paternal  grandmother  was  related  to  the  house  of 

Bourbon,  for  she   was   descended    from  the    Huguenots. 

Her  ancestors,  the  d'Herlins,  sealed  their  fate  with  their 

blood,  by  being  beheaded  at  Valenciennes,   1567,  on  the 

same  day  and  place  that  DeBres,  the  author  of  the  Belgic 

Confession,  was  hung.      His  maternal   grandfather  was 

Swiss.     His  name  was  Zeller,  and  he  was  superintendent 

*■  History  of  Rhenish  Westphalian  Church,  Vol.  11.  pages  403  and  4.32. 
t  Life  of  Lampe,  introduction. 


376  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

of  the  Eeformed  church  of  Lippe.  Zeller  was  descended 
from  one  of  the  patrician  families  of  Zurich.  His 
maternal  grandmother  was  descended  from  the  Dutch  refu- 
gees, who  had  fled  from  the  persecutions  of  the  Duke  of 
Alva  and  settled  at  Cleve.  So  there  was  mingled  in  his 
veins  the  best  blood  of  four  nations,  Swiss,  French,  Dutch 
and  German,  and  all  consecrated  by  piety. 

He  was  reared  by  his  grandfather  until  he  was  eight 
years  old.  It  was  the  influence  of  this  pious  old  man  who 
prepared  the  boy's  mind  to  be  the  future  Pietist.  For  Zeller 
had  been  converted  by  Lodenstein,  w^ho  had  been  kept  as 
a  hostage  by  the  French  at  Cleve  in  1672.  There  Zeller, 
w^ho  happened  to  be  pastor  at  Rees,  near  Cleve,  heard  him 
preach,  and  w-as  converted.  He  w^as  a  man  of  deep 
spirituality,  and  impressed  it  on  his  grandson.  He  was  the 
author  of  the  Lippe  Church  Order,  which  is  still  in  use. 
He-  was  greatly  honored  by  the  Count  of  Lippe,  and  when 
not  able  to  walk  to  the  church  because  of  gout,  the  Count 
had  him  carried  to  the  church  in  a  chair  by  soldiers, 
where,  sitting  on  a  chair  before  the  communion  table,  he 
preached.  Theleman  is  careful  to  say  that  Zeller  called 
it  in  the  Lippe  Church  Order,  "  a  communion  table,"  and 
not  an  altar.  For  the  Reformed  have  no  altars  in  their 
churches.* 

Born  of  such  ancestry,  reared  under  such  pious  influ- 
ence, Lampe  was  prepared  for  the  life  work.     His  grand- 

*  Theleman  Life  of  Lampe,  page  6. 


.^- 


PROFESSOR   FREDERICK  ADOLPH    LAMPE. 


lampe's  conversion.  377 

father  and  father  having  both  died,  he  was  taken  to  Bre- 
men by  an  nncle,  Wichelhansen,  who  educated  him. 
There  he  attended  the  Latin  school.  He  made  such 
progress  that  he  wrote  a  Latin  dissertation  on  "  The  Cym- 
bals of  the  Ancients/^  which  was  much  admired  by  his 
professors.  Of  his  own  accord  he  chose  the  ministry 
when  fifteen  years  of  age.  He  entered  the  university 
there,  where  he  heard  among  others  professor  Cornelius 
DeHase,  a  pupil  of  Untereyck's.  When  nineteen,  he, 
like  many  German  students  of  that  day,  went  to  Holland 
to  complete  his  education.  He  attended  the  university  of 
Franeker,  which  was  famous  not  only  for  its  Cocceian 
theology,  but  also  for  its  methods  of  teaching.*  Its  pro- 
fessors, too,  came  into  close  personal  contact  with  the 
students.  Vitringa,  Yon  der  Wayen  and  Roell  did  not 
teach  any  dry  scholastic  theology,  but  a  living  Pietism. 
While  studying  there,  Lampe  was  converted  and  wrote  a 
hymn  entitled  "  Lob  des  Herrn  Jesus'^  (Praise  of  the 
Lord  Jesus)  in  thirty-six  strophes,  in  which  he  describes 
his  lost  condition  and  his  conversion.  He  took  as  his 
motto,  "  My  love  is  crucified."  He  had  come  to  Franeker 
learned  in  the  sciences  and  theology,  yet  full  of  spiritual 
darkness.  Now  he  confessed,  "  I  desire  only  grace,  noth- 
ing but  grace.'^  At  Franeker  he  became  a  strong  adher- 
ent of  Cocceius,   whom  he  called  the  '^  great  Apollos.^' 

*  Instead  of  lectures  it  used  the  Socratic  method,  and   students  were  chal- 
lenged to  ask  questions. 

25 


378  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

Yet  he  was  not  a  slavish  follower  of  Cocceius,  but  devel- 
oped out  of  his  theology  a  school  of  his  own.  For  the 
Cocceians  had  divided  into  two  wings,  the  pure  or  green 
Cocceians  of  Leyden,  and  the  earnest  or  active  of  Utrecht 
and  Franeker.  The  former  had  emphasized  the  critical 
study  of  the  Scriptures  so  far  that  they  degenerated  into 
mere  hair  splitting  critics  of  the  Bible.  The  latter,  how- 
ever, never  allowed  criticism  to  make  them  forget  the 
practical  side  of  Christianity.  Lampe  it  was  who  became 
the  leader  of  a  new  school  of  theology.  Starting  from  the 
principles  of  the  earnest  Cocceians,  he  aimed  to  combine 
Cocceianism  with  practical  activity.  Thus  at  Franeker 
he  learned  both  Pietism  and  Cocceianism,  and  they  devel- 
oped together  in  him.  It  was  only  a  year  that  he  spent 
at  Franeker,  but  it  was  a  momentous  year  to  him  and  to 
the  Reformed  Church,  for  it  was  the  crisis  of  his  life  and 
settled  his  future.  In  1703  he  took  a  small  congregation 
at  Weeze,  near  Cleve.  In  this  region  his  grandfather, 
Zeller,  had  preached  before  him  and  his  great-grandson, 
Menken  preached  after  him.  The  congregation  was  small, 
but  earnest.  They  had  come  out  from  among  the  Roman- 
ists around  them  and  were  very  zealous  in  the  study  of 
the  Bible,  and  in  practical  activity.  But  after  three  years 
had  passed  away,  the  large  Reformed  congregation  at 
Duisburg  called  him.  Here  he  found  a  very  diiferent 
kind  of  a  congregation.  Duisburg  was  the  seat  of  a 
Reformed   university.      Owing  to   Copper's  indiscretions 


379 


there,  and  the  separations  from  the  Church  that  had  taken 
place,  there  was  a  prejudice  against  Pietism  there.  But 
Lampe  saw  that  the  great  congregation  must  be  awakened 
to  greater  spirituality  and  activity,  and  that  those  who 
had  gone  into  Separatism  must  be  won  back  to  the  Church. 
So  following  the  old  Reformed  custom,  he  made  a  house 
to  house  visitation  of  the  congregation,  although  some  of 
the  worldly-minded  in  the  congregation  objected  to  this.* 
Lampe  also  made  his  sermons  very  pointed  and  practical. 
In  them  he  always  distinguished  between  the  converted 
and  the  unconverted — a  custom  continued  in  this  century 
by  the  ministers  of  Germany.!  But  after  preaching  at 
Duisburg  for  three  years,  he  was  called  to  Bremen  as  pas- 
tor of  the  St.  Stephen's  church,  of  Avhich  he  became  the 
senior  pastor  in  1719.  He  had  so  endeared  himself  to  his 
congregation  at  Duisburg  that  they  parted  from  him  with 
great  regret.  At  Bremen  he  was  the  same  earnest  pastor 
and  preacher.  Untereyck  had  sowed  tlie  seed  and  Lampe 
reaped  the  results.  He  found  the  city  a  worldly  city,  and 
would  often  look  back  with  regret  to  the  higher  spiritual 
atmosphere  of  Duisburg  and  the  Northern  Rhine.  He 
began  to  hold  prayer  meetings,  so  as  to  promote  spirit- 
uality. But  he  did  not  limit  his  Pietism  to  prayer  meet- 
ings.    He  showed  it  by  the  directness  of  his  preaching 

-•■  The  records  of  the  consistory  from  1705-8  reveal  cases  of  Church  disci- 
pline brought  about  by  this  church  visitation.  See  Theleman  Life  of  Lampe, 
page  17. 

f  Koch  History  of  Hymns,  Vol.  VI.,  page  38. 


380  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

and  by  his  Church  discipline.  For  he  endeavored  to 
have  the  Bremen  church  introduce  stricter  Church  disci- 
pline, such  as  the  Reformed  had  along  the  Northern 
Rhine.  But  he  was  unsuccessful  in  this,  for  there  the 
church  was  free,  while  at  Bremen  it  was  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  city  authorities.  He  felt  his  difficulties  to  be 
great.  He  thus  writes  about  them  :  '^  He  that  will  not 
spend  his  time  in  dancing  and  in  idle  ways,  in  their  eyes, 
is  a  Pietist,  a  bigot.  He  that  has  a  narrow  conscience  and 
can  do  nothing  but  reveal  difficulties,  is  a  visionary,  a 
Quaker,  a  singular  person,  a  melancholy  freak.  He  is  a 
misanthrope,  and  if  he  does  not  w^ish  to  live  for  the  world, 
is  a  fool."  Truly  at  Bremen  he  was  a  lamp  (Lampe) — a 
lamp  shining  in  a  dark  place.  He  published,  in  1713,  a 
book  entitled  ^'  The  Great  Privileges  of  the  Unhappy 
Apostle,  Judas  Iscariot — A  Warning  to  Unprofitable 
Teachers."  It  was  written  under  an  assumed  name, 
"  Photius" — the  Greek  translation  of  Lampe.  It  was 
written  on  the  one  hand  as  a  warning  to  the  unfaithful 
teachers  within  the  Church,  and  on  the  other  was  a  warn- 
ing to  those  who  separated  from  the  Church.  While  with 
Koch  (who  claimed  that  orthodoxy  a  la  mode  had  been  the 
ruin  of  the  Reformed  Church),  he  held  that  the  members 
should  withdraw  from  unconverted  ministers,  yet  he  held 
that  was  not  necessary,  for  there  were  plenty  of  earnest 
Evangelical  ministers,  such  as  Baxter  in  England,  Loden- 
stein  in  Holland,  and  Untereyck  in  Germany  and  others 


381 

whose  ministrations  they  could  attend.  It  became,  how- 
ever, evident  from  this  book  that  Lampe  was  somewhat 
in  danger  of  inclining  toward  the  views  o^  the  Separatists. 
But  just  then  an  event  occurred  which  turned  him  fully 
back  toward  the  Church.  For  it  happened  that  Detry, 
pastor  of  St.  Martinis  churchy  who  had  been  a  student  at 
Duisburg  when  Lampe  was  pastor  there,  and  had  been  his 
close  friend,  preached  a  sermon,  October  3,  1713,  on  Luke 
19  :  45  and  46  (Christ  driving  the  money  changers  out  of 
the  temple).  He  declaimed  against  the  carnal  teachers  of 
the  Reformed  Church  who  had  changed  the  Church  into  a 
den  of  thieves  in  many  places.  In  this  sermon  Detry 
appealed  to  Lampe's  book  to  prove  his  position.  The 
sermon  caused  great  excitement  in  Bremen,  and  a  few 
days  later  the  ministerium  called  Detry  before  them  to 
answer  for  it.  After  various  negotiations,  in  which  Lampe 
was  active,  Detry  consented  to  publicly  recall  on  Christmas 
day  what  he  had  said,  but  he  finally  refused  to  do  this, 
and  so  the  city  council  suspended  him.  The  matter  soon 
quieted  down,  and  Detry  again  ministered  to  his  church. 
But  soon  a  new  conflict  arose,  directed  against  Lampe. 
Romeling,  a  Lutheran  Separatist,  who  had  all  along 
greatly  influenced  Detry,  attacked  Lampe  in  1714.  Lampe 
found  himself  compelled  to  defend  himself  in  a  book 
against  him.  Detry,  who  had  had  trouble  Avith  the  senior 
pastor  of  his  church,  also  attacked  Lampe  (1717),  because 
he  had  taken  his  ground  against  Romeling.     This  strife  of 


382  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

Lampe  against  Detry  and  Romeling  led  him  to  define  liim- 
self  against  all  Separatism.  He  declared  that  he  was  as 
decidedly  against  Separatism  as  he  was  in  favor  of  Pietism 
within  the  Church.  This  strife  being  over,  there  came  to 
him  a  season  of  quiet,  which  he  utilized  for  study.  In 
1712  he  published  the  first  volume  of  his  theological  w^ork, 
"  The  Mystery  of  the  Covenant  of  Grace.''  He  finally  com- 
pleted the  work  in  1721.  In  1718  he  published  the  first 
Refprmed  Church  paper.  He  was  aided  in  it  by  Theo- 
dore DeHase,  professor  of  theology  in  the  university.  Its 
title  was  "  Bibliotheca-Historico-Philologico-Theologica" 
(the  Historical-Philological-Theological  Library).  In  it 
he  hoped  to  gather  material  for  the  future  history  of  the  Re- 
formed Church,  but  Biblical  essays,  reviews  of  books,  espec- 
ially Reformed  works,  and  Church  news  were  also  made 
prominent.  It  was  published  in  Latin,  as  that  was  the 
literary  language  of  Europe.  jSTo  polemics  were  permitted 
in  it.  It  appeared  in  parts,  each  part  being  dedicated  to 
some  celebrated  Reformed  theologian,  as  Mieg,  Vitringa, 
Jablonski  and  Hottinger.  Among  its  contributors  were 
Turretin,  Roell,  Mosheim,  Haumann  (for  pious  Lutherans 
were  gladly  welcomed  to  its  pages),  and  jurists  like  Deu- 
sing  and  Neubour.  This  paper  he  continued  to  publish 
as  long  as  he  remained  in  Bremen. 

His  works  gave  him  a  reputation  as  a  theologian, 
while  his  success  at  preaching,  catechization  and  pastoral 
work,  and  the  eloquence  of  his  sermons  gave  him  a  repu- 


383 


tation  as  a  preacher  and  pastor.  He  therefore  received 
several  calls  as  to  a  professorship  of  theology  at  the  uni- 
versity of  Frankford  on  the  Oder.  In  1720  he  accepted 
the  call  to  be  professor  at  the  Dutch  university  of  Utrecht. 
His  congregation  parted  from  him  with  great  regret,  but 
his  professorship  gave  him  a  wide  influence  among  the 
ministers  of  the  Church.  Indeed  his  call  to  that  univer- 
sity marked  an  epoch  in  the  Dutch  Church.  It  marked 
the  victory  of  the  Cocceians  over  the  Voetians,  of  Bib- 
lical theology  over  the  scholasticism,  of  Christian  life  over 
Christian  doctrine.  It  also  marked  another  event,  namely, 
the  victory  of  the  earnest  Cocceians  over  the  green  or 
scholastic  Cocceians.  For  from  that  day  it  became  cus- 
tomary in  the  Dutch  universities  to  have  three  professors 
of  theology  :  (1)  A  Voetian  or  scholastic  ;  (2)  a  Cocceian 
or  exegete ;  (3)  a  Lampean  or  practical  theologian.  He 
exerted  a  great  influence  over  his  students  as  a  teacher  of 
dogmatics.  He  made  dogmatics  and  church  history 
practical  sciences,  and  by  the  earnestness  of  his  piety  and 
the  warm  sympathy  of  his  heart  exerted  much  the  same 
influence  over  them  that  Lodenstein  had  done  many  years 
before.  He  was  made  rector  of  the  university  in  1726, 
which  post  he  held  till  he  left  Utrecht. 

In  1727  he  received  a  call  to  come  back  to  Bremen 
and  be  pastor  of  the  St.  Ansgari  church,  and  also  professor 
of  theology  in  the  university.  He  accepted  this  call,  partly 
because  of  his  great  love  for  Bremen,  and  partly  because 


384  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

his  health  had  been  shattered  by  the  damp  climate  of 
Holland.  Xow  if  Pietism  had  been  outlawed  by  the 
Reformed  Church,  Lampe  never  would  have  been  called 
to  Utrecht  as  professor  in  one  of  the  largest  Reformed 
universities,  nor  would  he  have  been  called  back  to 
Bremen  to  be  its  professor  there.  On  the  contrary,  he 
was  called  to  both  of  these  prominent  positions.  And 
when  he  returned  to  Bremen  he  was  received  with  the 
highest  honors.  Instead  of  being  looked  down  upon  for 
being  a  Pietist,  or  put  out  of  the  Reformed  Church  for 
holding  conventicles,  he  was  elected  to  one  of  the  highest 
positions  with  which  the  Church  could  honor  him.  The 
ministerium  which  had  once  opposed  Untereyck,  now 
united  in  honoring  him  in  every  w^ay.  Thus  they  did  not 
place  his  name  last  in  the  list  of  ministers,  as  they  always 
did  when  a  new  minister  came  to  one  of  their  churches, 
but  they  entered  his  name  on  the  roll  where  it  had  been, 
when  he  had  been  pastor  before.  And  instead  of  com- 
pelling him  to  preach  a  trial  sermon  in  the  Liebfrau 
church,  as  was  their  custom,  they  dispensed  with  this  in 
his  case.  To  have  so  prominent  a  Dutch  professor  of 
theology  come  back  to  Germany,  was  an  honor  to  Ger- 
many which  seldom  occurred.  He  delivered  his  intro- 
ductory address  in  September.  He  was  very  gladly 
received  by  his  congregation.  His  great  influence  now 
enabled  him  to  do  what  Untereyck  failed  to  do  many 
years  before,  namely,  to  get  the  Reformed  of  Bremen  to 


385 


give  up  the  payment  of  the  confessional  money  (Beicht 
pfennig).  This  change  had  already  been  made  by  Unter- 
eyck  in  the  St.  Martin's  church.  Lampe  now  succeeded 
in  having  this  custom  dispensed  with  in  all  the  churches 
of  Bremen.  Instead  of  this,  a  special  fund  w^as  created, 
to  which  each  member  contributed  a  yearly  free-will  offer- 
ing, out  of  w4iich  the  ministers  were  paid.*  Lampe  also 
labored  with  great  joy  and  success  in  the  university.  He 
had  congenial  associates  in  the  faculty,  as  Theodore  De- 
Hase  and  Shumacher.  His  reputation  extended  far  beyond 
Germany,  and  he  attracted  many  students  to  Bremen. 

But  Bremen  was  not  to  have  the  privilege  of  his 
instructions  long — only  two  years.  A  severe  sickness  at 
Utrecht  had  already  brought  him  to  the  borders  of  the 
grave.  His  health,  however,  improved  after  he  came  to 
Bremen,  so  that  his  death,  when  it  came,  was  quite  sudden. 
After  closing  his  lecture  to  the  students  at  4  p.  M.,  and  mak- 
ing a  pastoral  call,  he  was  taken  with  a  hemorrhage.  But 
he  was  ready  for  death,  for  to  a  friend  who  called  to  see 
him  he  said  :  ^^  Blessed  is  the  man  whom  the  Lord  when 
He  Cometh  will  find  w^atching.''  After  another  hemor- 
rhage he  died,  December  8,  1729,  aged  47  years.  Only  a 
few  hours  before  his  death  he  had  finished  the  manuscript 
of  his  "  Eleven  Meditations  on  Death."  The  memorial 
sermon  was  preached  by  Drage,  who  compared  him  with 

■■■  But  although  the  city  churches  put  away   this   confessional   money,   the 
country  churches  of  Bremen  still  continued  the  old  custom. 


386  THE   EEFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

Enoch  in  his  walk  with  God,  '^And  he  was  not,  for  God 
took  him.''  Lampe's  motto,  ^'  My  love  is  crucified/' 
found  its  completion  as  his  crucifixion  on  earth  changed  to 
his  coronation  in  heaven. 

Thus  died  the  leader  of  the  German  Reformed  Church 
in  the  eighteenth  century.  In  many  ways  he  was  a 
remarkable  man — a  many-sided,  yet  finely  balanced  man. 
He  was  great  as  a  preacher.  His  sermons  were  plain, 
practical,  pungent,  yet  full  of  suggestive  thought  and 
spiritual  unction.  He  always  kept  two  classes  of  hearers 
before  his  mind,  both  in  preparing  and  in  preaching,  the 
believing  and  the  unbelieving.*  At  the  close  of  his  ser- 
mons his  practical  mind  led  him  to  divide  the  congregation 
into  distinct  classes,  the  ignorant,  the  impenitent,  the  for- 
mal, the  convinced  Christian  and  the  converted  Christian. 
He  would  address  himself  to  each  class  separately.!  This 
w^as  imitated  by  his  followers,  so  that  it  became  quite  cus- 
tomary along  the  northern  Rhine  for  those  who  belonged 
to  the  last  class  (the  converted)  to  rise  in  their  seats  when 
addressed.  And  for  a  century  after  in  many  of  the  con- 
gregations of  the  northern  Rhine  "  the  so-called  touched, 
awakened  or  converted,  and  those  who  desired  to  be  con- 
sidered as  such,  stood  up  when  the  sermon  was  applied  to 

*  He  said  in  his  introductory  sermon  at  Bremen,  1727,  "  I  will  endeavor  to 
make  an  exact  distinction  between  fleshly  and  spiritual  professors,  between 
Jacob  and  Esau,  between  weak  and  strong." 

t  Goebel  History  of  Rhenish  Westphalian  Church,  Vol.  II.,  page  415. 


387 

their  class,  a  custom,  says  Goebel,*  whose  trace  I  myself 
still  met  with  in  the  Berg  congregations  (1852),  and  which 
was  revived  by  the  Methodists  with  new  power.'^  This 
then  w^as  a  Reformed  custom  acknowledged  in  many 
churches  more  than  a  half  century  before  Methodism  ever 
saw  the  light,  and  in  a  district  the  most  tenaciously 
Reformed  to-day  in  Germany.  Why  then  should  the 
Reformed  of  our  day  object  to  modern  evangelistic  servi- 
ces as  un-Reformed  and  Methodistical  ?  These  things 
were  customary  in  the  Reformed  Church  before  ever  Meth- 
odism was  known.  They  grew  out  of  the  spirit  born 
in  her  and  became  a  part  of  her  Church  life.  The  fact 
is,  if  the  Reformed  Church  is  to  have  a  future,  she  must 
become  more  evangelistic  and  less  formal. 

Lampe's  pastoral  work  was,  like  his  preaching,  faith- 
ful and  eifective.  In  season  and  out  of  season  he  visited 
his  people.  He  gained  their  hearts,  and  they  loved  him 
very  much.  He  watched  over  them  as  individuals.  We 
give  a  beautiful  illustration  of  his  rare  tact.  A  fisherman 
in  his  St.  Stephen's  parish  at  Bremen,  over  sixty  years 
old,  lay  sick  unto  death.  Lampe  hearing  that  he  had 
neglected  the  means  of  grace  and  was  ignorant  of  salva- 
tion, hastened  with  tears  in  his  eyes  to  visit  him.  When 
the  fisherman  heard  that  a  minister  had  come  to  see  him, 
he  became  very  much  afraid  and  expected  a  severe  scold- 
ing.    But  Lampe,  instead  of  finding  fault  with  him,  with 

*  Of  Rhenish  Westphalian  Church,  Vol.  II.,  page  415,  note. 


388  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

the  Avisdom  of  a  wise  pastor  brought  comfort  to  him. 
And  by  a  simple  question  the  sick  man  was  soon  brought 
to  a  confession  of  his  sinful  life  and  showed  a  longing  for 
salvation.  Lampe  then  gladly  explained  to  the  man  the 
way  of  life.  He  did  this  in  most  simple  language  and  with 
great  tact.  He  reminded  the  fisher  of  the  anchor,  and 
how,  "  when  he  was  in  his  boat,  his  hope  was  grounded 
on  his  anchor.  Now  such  an  anchor  was  Christ  Jesus. 
Although  through  his  sins  he  was  in  danger  of  eternal 
shipwreck,  yet  Jesus  w^as  the  anchor,  and  he  must  lay 
hold  of  Him  by  faith.''  As  Lampe  left  h'm,  the  man  said 
with  tears  in  his  eyes,  "  I  see  that  I  must  be  lost  eternally, 
but  I  will  lay  hold  of  Jesus  as  my  anchor,  although  the 
number  of  my  sins  would  drag  me  down  to  hell  and  sink 
the  ship  of  my  soul."  The  sick  man,  as  he  woke  out  of 
sleep  the  next  morning,  cried,  "  My  ship  wants  to  sink, 
but  I  hold  my  anchor  fast."  Lampe  visited  him  daily, 
and  he  died  rejoicing  in  hope. 

Lampe  also  excelled  as  a  catechist.  He  knew  how  to 
question  his  pupils.  His  practical  methods  of  stating 
doctrine  was  a  great  aid  to  him  in  catechization.  He  says 
he  believed  that  far  more  was  done  through  catechization 
than  by  preaching.  And  he  declared  that  he  gave  more 
time  to  catechization  than  to  preaching.  He  invited  the 
catechumetis  to  his  house,  w^here  he  would  divide  them  off 
according  to  their  age  and  ability,  and  then  adapt  the 
truth  to  them.     His  example  reveals  the  one  thing  lack- 


lampe's  excellences.  389 

ing  in  some  modern  pastors,  a  want  of  faithfulness  in 
catechization.  Catecbization  to  him  was  not  a  merely 
formal  memorizing:  of  the  catechism.  It  was  a  matter  of 
the  heart  as  well  as  of  the  head,  and  led  to  conversion  from 
sin  and  sanctification  through  grace. 

Lampe  was  also  great  as  an  author.  We  have  already 
referred  to  his  church  paper.  He  was  also  the  author  of 
a  number  of  works.  His  Milk  of  Truth  (1720),  was  a 
very  remarkable  book.  It  was  an  elaboration  of  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism  (the  first  two  questions  of  that 
catechism  are  the  basis  of  not  less  than  fifty  questions). 
This  book  was  not  only  praised  by  the  General  Synod  of 
Julich,  Cleve,  Berg  and  Mark,  but  that  Synod  went  so 
far  as  to  have  it  printed  at  its  own  expense.  The  book 
came  into  such  common  use  along  the  Northern  Rhine, 
that  in  many  places  it  forced  the  Heidelberg  Catechism 
out  of  use.  It  was  still  used  in  some  of  those  districts  up 
to  the  middle  of  this  century.*  In  1719  Lampe's  com- 
munion book  appeared,  entitled,  "  The  Holy  Ornament  of 
the  Wedding  Guests  of  the  Lamb  at  the  Table  of  the 
Covenant.'^  Here  in  seventeen  chapters  he  treats  of  the 
necessity  of  the  proper  use  of  the  communion,  the  duty 
before  and  after  communion,  the  chief  qualification,  namely 
faith.     To  him  the  Lord's  Supper  was,   according  to  his 

*  The  Milk  of  Truth  also  had  an  appendix  to  it  of  150  questions,  in  which 
on  15  pages  the  main  doctrines  as  God,  sin,  redemption,  faith,  the  new  birth, 
sanctification,  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  are  all  treated.  The  Milk  of 
Truth  was  translated  into  English  by  a  Dutch  pastor  in  New  Jersey  in  the 
last  century. 


390  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Federal  views,  a  seal  of  the  covenant,  and  the  use  of  the 
comn^union  was  the  meal  of  the  covenant.  In  1713,  when 
the  plague  visited  Bremen,  he  published  his  tract,  ^'  Bal- 
sam out  of  Gilead  against  Contagious  Diseases."  In  exe- 
getical  works  he  occupied  a  front  rank.  His  commentary 
on  John's  gospel  is  excellent,  and  of  value  even  down  to 
our  day. 

Lampe  was  also  great  as  a  theologian.  It  is  wonder- 
ful that  so  busy  a  man  could  find  time  to  make  so  much 
theological  research.  He  gathered  a  great  library  which 
was  sold  for  a  large  sum  after  his  death.  His  greatest 
work  was  his  '^  Mystery  of  the  Covenant  of  Grace."  It 
was  contained  in  six  volumes  of  eight  hundred  pages.* 
He  founded  his  book  on  the  Federal  theology  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  Pietism.  He  was  a  Predestiuarian,  but 
a  practical  one,  for  he  viewed  it  from  a  practical  stand- 
point, and  it  did  not  become  a  formative  principle  in  his 
theology,  as  it  did  in  the  supralapsarian  view.  The  cove- 
nant rather  than  the  decrees  was  the  centre  of  his  theology. 
In  the  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  he  was  Calvinistic. 
On  the  Millennium  he  occupied  a  mediating  position.     The 

*  In  the  introduction  he  discusses  the  distinction  between  the  covenant  of 
works  and  the  covenant  of  grace.  In  Section  I.  he  considers  the  nature  of 
the  covenant  of  grace:  (a)  The  parties  of  the  covenant  (God  in  three  persons 
and  the  fallen  sinner) ;  (b)  the  reasons  for  the  covenant  (the  decrees  and 
the  satisfaction  of  the  Son  of  God);  (c)  the  contents  of  the  covenant  (effectual 
calling,  faith,  regeneration,  justification,  sanctification,  sealing,  glorification); 
(d)  the  real  establishment  of  the  covenant).  In  Section  II.  the  develop- 
ment of  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  season  of  promise,  the  economy  of  the  law, 
the  dispensation  of  the  gospel  (the  life  of  Christ  and  the  sacraments). 


lampe's  theological  views.  391 

orthodox  looked  on  millennarianism  as  an  heretical  doctrine 
of  the  sects.  Lampe  held  with  Roell,  Spener  and  the 
Puritans  of  England,  that  the  millennium  was  imminent, 
and  that  Christ's  kingdom  would  be  set  up  on  earth,  at 
which  time  Rome  would  fall.  His  doctrine  of  the  Sab- 
bath was  like  that  of  Cocceius.  He  puts  the  command  of 
the  Sabbath  in  the  ceremonial  law,  and  shows  that  the 
apostles  had  given  up  the  old  Sabbath  by  changing  it  from 
the  seventh  day  to  the  first  day  of  the  week.  But  he  also 
held  that  the  Sabbath  was  a  necessity  to  man,  and  that 
there  should  be  a  day  appointed  for  public  worship.  But 
the  Christian  should  keep  Sunday  not  as  a  mere  ceremo- 
nial act,  but  out  of  an  inner  desire  to  get  the  rest  that  God 
had  at  the  beginning.*     He  founded  the  Federal  school  of 

*  Lampe  was  suspected  of  Roellianism,  since  he  explained  John  5 :  26, 
("  For  as  the  Father  hath  life  in  himself,  so  hath  he  given  to  the  Son  to  have 
life  in  himself,")  referring  it  not  to  the  eternal  generation  of  the  Son  from  the 
Father  (as  also  John  15  :  26,  not  to  the  eternal  procession  of  the  Spirit  from 
the  father),  hence  not  to  the  essential  trinity,  but  only  to  the  revealed  trinity, 
and  even  not  to  his  incarnation,  but  to  the  last  stage  of  his  earthly  life — to 
the  resurrection  of  Christ.  So  that  the  giving  of  life  here  only  meant  the 
glorious  state  in  which  the  Son  of  God  is  placed  when  he  appeared  as  the 
conqueror  of  death  after  he  has  finished  his  sacrifice,  and  has  received  not 
only  the  power  of  eternal  life,  but  also  that  glory  which  was  due  to  the  perfect 
Savior.  His  exegesis  of  this  passage  agreed  so  little  with  the  usual  opinion  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  trinity,  and  was  so  like  Roell,  his  teacher,  that  the  quarrel 
between  the  Cocceians  had  hardly  subsided,  before  it  was  again  stirred  up, 
and  Lampe  was  sus})ected  by  some  of  semi-pelagianism  or  tritheism.  There 
ii  a  story  told  that  at  one  of  the  Synods  a  motion  was  made  condemning 
Lampe.  One  of  the  oldest  ministers  stood  up  and  said,  "  Whether  Lampe  is 
heterodox  or  not,  I  know  not,  but  this  I  know,  he  is  the  most  pious  man 
among  all  of  us."  This  remark  stopped  any  further  desire  to  condemn 
him.     Lampe  however  did  not  depart  from  the  old  faith. 


392  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

theology  in  the  spirit  of  Pietism,  and  it  became,  says 
Koch,*  '"''  the  ruling  school  of  the  German  Reformed 
Church  in  opposition  to  the  mysticism  of  Tersteegen  on 
the  one  hand  and  of  rationalism  on  the  other.'' 

He  was  also  great  as  a  poet.  He  was  one  of  the  three 
great  poets  of  the  German  Reformed  Church,  Neander  and 
Tersteegen  being  the  other  two.  He  wrote  forty-three 
hymns  and  a  number  of  poems,  as  the  poem  of  his  conversion 
mentioned  above,  ^^  Praise  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  Some  of 
them  appeared  in  his  "  Mystery  of  the  Covenant  of  Grace" 
and  in  his  tract,  '^  Balsam  out  of  Gilead."  Later,  in  1773;. 
he  issued  them  under  the  title,  ''  A  Little  Bunch  of  Spir- 
itual Songs."  Of  his  hymns  the  most  famous  are,  "  Mein 
Leben  ist  ein  Pilgerstand,"t  "  O  wer  gibt  mir  Adlers 
Flugel,"  ''  O  Liebesgluth,  wie  soil  ich  dich,"  "  O  Pels 
des  Heils  am  Kreuzesstamm,"  and  the  Easter  hymn, 
"  Mein  Pels  hat  iiberwunden."  It  was  only  in  times  of 
leisure  that  he  allowed  the  muses  to  gain  control  over  him. 
Especially  when  he  travelled  did  he  write  his  hymn, 
"  Mein  Leben  ist  ein  Pilgerstand,"  or  when  he  was  at  the 
baths,  where  he  often  had  to  go  for  his  health,  did  he 
write  ^^  Schmachtende  Brunnenseufzer."  Lange  says  of 
his  hymns,  ^^  A  true  burning  glow  of  feeling  and  a  sublime 
flight  of  fancy  are  to  be  noted  in  him.  He  is  familiar 
with  the  mystery  of  the  inner  life,  as  well  as  of  objective 

*  History  of  German  hymns,  Vol.  VI.,  page  41. 
f  For  translation  see  appendix. 


lampe's  hymns.  393 

truth.  The  superabundance  of  his  theological  types,  the 
peculiarities  of  many  expressions,  as  well  as  the  insipidity 
of  many  forms  of  words,  often  obscure  his  hymns.  And 
then  their  real  contents  break  through  these  shadows  with 
shining  clearness  and  lofty  grandeur."  Ebrard  says,  ^^  No 
grander  or  more  splendid  hymn  was  ever  sung  than  ^  O 
wer  gibt  mir  Adler's  Fliigel  ?'  The  happy  trust  of  his  rock- 
bound  faith  shows  itself  as  strongly  ii^  these  hy^ns  as  in 
Gerhardt's,  but  is  seasoned  with  more  ^alt  of  earnestness. 
One  notices  the  rest  of  his  faith  which  he  reached  after  a 
battle.''  Lampe  goes  down  to  the  depths  of  our  inner 
experience  in  ^'  O  wer  gibt  mir  Adler's  Fliigel  ?"  (Who 
will  give  me  eagle's  wings  ?)  to  which  one  finds  in  Ger- 
hardt  no  parallel. 

Lampe  therefore  was  a  very  remarkable  man.  In  a 
Avonderful  way  he  ,combined  depth  of  thought  with  sym- 
pathy of  heart,  logical  acumen  with  practical  insight.  The 
theme  of  his  life  was  grace,  and  gracious  he  was  by  nature 
even  to  those  who  opposed  him.  He  was  always  kind. 
He  knew  nothing  of  jealousy.  His  great  service  was  in 
putting  new  life  in  the  Cocceiau  theology  and  baptizing  it 
with  the  practical  spirit.  The  love  of  Christ  continually 
constrained  him.  "  Of  Christ  he  spoke,  of  Christ  he 
sang,  for  Christ  he  lived,  in  Christ  he  died."  His  life 
was  a  Pilgrim's  Progress,  like  his  hymn  ("  My  Life  is  a 
Pilgrim  State"),  which  was  the  Pilgrim's  Progress  of  poet- 
ry. The  coat  of  arms  of  his  family  was  a  burning  lamp. 
26 


394  THE    REFOKMED   OHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

He  was  truly  a  lamp  (Lampe.)  He  was  like  Ecolampa- 
dius  (whose  name  also  meant  lamp).  He  was  like  John 
the  Baptist,  '^  a  burning  and  a  shining  light/'  to  light  many 
to  God.  Lampe's  epitaph,  \^T:*itten  by  his  brother-in-law, 
Noltenius,  the  court  preacher  of  Berlin,  reads  as  follows  : 

"See  a  light  is  buried  yonder, 

Burning  once  with  holy  flame, 

Dedicated  all  his  talents 
*  To  the  service  c.f  God's  name, 

But  this  grave  cannot  conceal  him, 

Lampe's  writings  are  the  sign  ! 

That  as  long  as  stars  will  sparkle 

He  shall  live  in  memory's  shrine  ; 

Bremen,  canst  thou  not  forever 

Glory  in  this  shining  light  ? 

Pray  to  God  that  He  may  grant  us 

Many  lamps  as  pure  and  bright." 

{Translated  by  Wm.  Hinke.) 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  EFFECTS  OF  THE  RISE  OF  PIETISM. 

The  results  of  this  development  of  Pietism  were  very 
important  and  far-reaching.  Its  influence  has  been  so 
great  that  it  has  even  been  named  a  new  reformation.  The 
first  reformation  emphasized  the  doctrines,  although  it  did 
not  forget  the  life.  This  second  reformation  completed  it 
by  emphasizing  the  outward  life,  as  well  as  the  doctrine. 
And  where  the  first  may  have  failed  to  do  its  work  per- 
fectly, this  came  in  to  complete  it,  so  that  doctrine  and  life, 
the  subjective  thought  and  the  objective  conduct,  might 
harmonize  together  in  revealing  true  Christian  character 
to  the  world.  What  Lasco,  Ursinus  and  Olevianus  were 
in  the  first  reformation  to  the  German  Reformed  Church, 
that  Untereyck,  Xeander  and  Lampe  Avere  to  the  second. 

The  effects  of  Pietism  showed  themselves  in  many 
ways.  Pietism  both  revived  the  old  forms,  and  also  led 
to  the  introduction  of  new  ones.  It  was  both  conservative 
and  also  progressive.  Into  the  old  forms,  some  of  which 
had  become  lifeless  through  age,  it  put  new  spirit  and  life, 
such  as  they  had  not  had  since  they  were  first  introduced 
in  the  early  reformation.  And  at  the  same  time  it  intro- 
duced some  new  forms  and  customs,  and  thus  enabled  the 


396  THE    EEFOEMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Reformed  Church  to  adjust  herself  to  the  times  and  move 
on  with  the  progress  of  the  age.  We  will  first  mention 
the  old  forms,  into  which  Pietism  put  new  life,  and  then 
of  the  new  customs  it  introduced.  One  ot  its  greatest 
results  was  the  revival  of  catechization.  After  the  first 
freshness  of  the  reformation  revival  had  passed  away, 
these  catechetical  services  had  often  degenerated,  either 
into  dry  statements  of  doctrine,  or  elfee  had  become  the 
arena  for  polemics.  Even  when  they  pleased  the  intel- 
lect, they  often  failed  to  reach  the  heart  of  the  catechumens 
or  to  produce  much  effect  on  their  life.  The  result  was 
that  the  afternoon  catechetical  services  on  Sunday  were 
no  longer  well  attended.  Pietism  came  and  took  this  old 
custom,  revived  it  and  made  it  more  effective.  In  doing 
so  it  changed  the  mode  of  catechization  to  some  extent : 
a)  The  old  custom  was  to  have  a  catechetical  sermon  on 
Sunday  afternoons.  But  in  addition  to  this.  Pietism 
introduced  a  catechization  on  week-days,  b)  The  old  cus- 
tom was  to  have  catechization  in  the  church,  Avhere  a  ser- 
mon was  preached  on  some  answer  in  the  catechism.  This 
was  ordered  by  the  Palatinate  liturgy  and  the  Synod  of 
Dort.  But  Pietism  had  its  catechetization  also  in  the 
private  houses  and  in  the  homes  of  the  congregation. 
And  instead  of  a  formal  sermon,  in  which  the  minister 
alone  took  part,  it  used  the  Socratic  method  of  question- 
ing the  catechumens.  At  the  church  they  had  catechiza- 
tion at  long  range,  but  now  at  the  homes  the  truth  was 


PIETISM    EMPHASIZES    CATECHIZATION.  397 

brought  home  directly  to  the  hearts  and  consciences  of 
the  catechumens,  and  in  a  more  social  way  the  Biblical 
truths  were  impressed  on  tlieir  minds.  c)  Pietism 
changed  to  some  extent  the  emphasis  of  catechization. 
Before  this  the  catechetical  services  had  come  to  be 
intended  mainly  for  the  congregation  in  general.  Now  it 
was  intended  mainly  for  the  young  and  for  those  not 
Church  members.  From  being  doctrinal  and  devotional 
merely,  they  now  became  evangelistic.  Under  the  old 
system  there  had  been  little  emphasis  laid  on  the  training 
of  the  young.  Pietism  saw  its  opportunity  (for  earnest 
Christianity  always  finds  opportunities  and  improves 
them)  and  cared  for  the  young.  The  Pietists  used  conven- 
ticles, for  they  saw  these  would  best  reach  individual  souls. 
It  may  be  a  surprise  to  some  of  those  who  in  our  day  are 
so  closely  wedded  to  our  weekly  catechetical  lectures,  to 
know  that  there  was  a  very  considerable  opposition  to 
this  new  method  of  catechization  when  it  was  introduced. 
Untereyck  created  a  great  sensation  at  Bremen  when  he 
introduced  them.  The  merely  formal  Christians  said, 
^^  What,  is  not  a  sermon  in  church  on  Sunday  morning 
enough  ?  Why  should  more  services  be  needed  on  week- 
days V^  But  these  catechetical  meetings  led  to  such  good 
results  that  they  overcame  opposition.  The  General  Synod 
of  Julich,  Cleve,  Berg  and  Mark  wisely  decided  that  the 
best  way  to  offset  the  tendency  of  some  to  separate  from 
the  Church,  was  to  hold  earnest  devotional  meetings  in 


398  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

the  church,  and  in  1683  urged  catechization  and  weekly 
meetings  as  the  best  means  of  counteracting  Separatism. 
In  1716  the  Elberfeld  Classis  ordered  week-day  catechi- 
zation, as  well  as  Sunday  afternoon  catechization.  The 
Classis  of  Julich  in  1769  declared  that  ^^  the  wise  teach- 
ing of  the  catechism  to  children  produced  more  results 
than  a  hundred  addresses  to  ignorant  parents.'^  The 
Meurs  Classis  ordered  private  catechization  in  private 
houses  in  1671,  and  the  Cleve  Synod  in  1697.  Finally 
the  General  Synod  of  Julich,  Cleve,  Berg  and  Mark  in 
1775  changed  the  Sunday  afternoon  catechization  into  a 
catechization  on  week-days.* 

It  has  been  charged  by  opponents  of  Pietism  and 
revivalsf  that  Pietism  destroys  the  honored  custom  of 
catechization  so  dear  to  every  member  of  the  Reformed 
Church.  The  answer  (and  it  is  the  answer  of  history)  is 
that  there  never  would  have  been  catechetical  lectures  as  ive 
have  them  to-day,  had  there  not  been  a  revival.  It  was  a 
revival  in  the  Church  that  developed  these  weeTzly  catechi- 
zations  and  made  them  mainly  for  the  young.  Now,  if 
Pietism  and  revivals  produce  catechization,  how  then  can 
they  destroy  it  ?  No ;  catechization  and  revivals  go 
together.  They  were  born  together.  They  should  exist 
together.      The    course   of  catechetical    lectures   in   our 

*  See  Goebel  History  of  the  Rhenish  Westphalian  Church,  Vol.  III.,  p.  49. 

t  By  revivals  we  do  not  mean  noisy,  excited  meetings,  but  quiet,  solemn 
services  where  Christians  are  led  to  higher  consecrationj^and  sinners  are  con- 
verted.    Noise  never  makes  a  revival,  only  God's  Spirit  can. 


PIETISM    AND   WORSHIP.  399 

churches,  what  should  it  be,  but  a  continuous  revival 
where  souls  are  converted  and  brought  into  living  union 
with  Christ  ?  The  lectures  should  be  so  adapted  as  to  pro- 
duce conversion  and  religious  experience.  The  doctrines 
of  the  catechism  should  be  so  explained  as  to  lead  the 
catechumen  to  Christ  as  a  personal  Savior,  and  to  lead  him 
to  a  consistent  Christian  life.  The  best  preparation  for  a 
course  of  catechetical  lectures  is  a  series  of  special  services. 
The  interest  these  produce  often  leads  the  undecided  to  join 
the  class.  And  those  who  had  been  converted  at  such 
meetings  will  be  far  better  able  to  understand  the  spiritual 
truths  of  the  catechism  after  conversion,  because  their 
minds  have  already  learned  to  discern  spiritual  things. 
The  two,  catechism  and  Pietism,  are  twin  servants  of  the 
Reformed  Church  ;  let  us  never  divorce  them.  If  we  lose 
sight  of  either,  the  Church  will  suffer.  If  she  forgets 
catechization,  she  will  degenerate  into  mere  emotionalism  ; 
if  she  forgets  Pietism,  she  will  fall  into  mere  formalism. 
Only  by  a  judicious  use  of  both  will  she  remain  true  to 
her  past  history  and  ready  to  make  future  history  for  her- 
self. 

A  second  effect  of  this  development  of  Pietism  was  on 
the  cultus  or  icorship  of  the  Church.  Here  again  it  put 
new  life  into  old  forms  where  the  old  life  had  largely 
departed.  The  services  of  the  church,  instead  of  languish- 
ing, as  they  had  done  before,  became  full  of  interest,  and 
the  church  attendance  largely  increased.      The  ordinances 


400  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

of  God^s  house,  the  sacraments  and  the  preaching  of  the 
Word,  were  more  greatly  enjoyed,  and  as  a  result,  more 
highly  honored.  Thus  Pietism  led  to  an  emphasis  on 
free  prayer.  This  had  been  an  old  custom  in  the  Reformed 
Church.  The  oldest  Reformed  Synod  in  Germany  at 
Wesel  in  1568,  presided  over  by  Dathenus,  court  preacher 
of  Elector  Frederick  III.  of  the  Palatinate,  had  ordered 
the  use  of  free  prayer  in  the  church  services.  Now  Pietism 
came  to  emphasize  it  again.  As  a  result,  the  old  liturgical 
formulas  were  given  up  in  the  Northern  Rhine,  especially 
in  the  county  of  Berg.*  Heppe  says,  ^^  The  written 
prayers  of  the  liturgy  came  to  be  forgotten."!  Goebel 
says,  ^^  The  old  formulas  were  put  away  everywhere  in 
Berg,  and  no  new  ones  introduced,  so  that  there  is  no 
liturgy,  but  freedom  prevails."  The  texts  were  also  free, 
and  not  taken  from  the  gospels  and  epistles  of  the  day.| 

Another  important  custom  that  was  emphasized  was 
confirmation.  The  rite  of  confirmation  had  been  by  no 
means  common  in  the  Reformed  Church  in  the  Reforma- 
tion. For  the  rite  had  been  performed  by  bishops  in  the 
Romish  Church,  and  when  bishops  were  given  up  at  the 
Reformation   by   the  Protestants,    this  custom    fell  into 

*  Abundant  proof  of  this  is  given  by  Goebel,  History  of  Rhenish  West- 
phalian  Church,  Vol.  III.,  page  62,  Vol.  II.,  page  77;  and  by  Heppe,  History 
of  Evangelical  Church  of  Julich,  Cleve.  Berg  and  Mark,  pages  232,  240  and 
245. 

f  History  of  Evangelical  Church  of  Julich,  Cleve,  Berg  and  Mark,  page  244. 

%  Goebel,  History  of  tho  Rhenish  Westphalian  Church,  Vol.  II.,  page  535. 


PIETISM   AND    CONFIRMATION.  401 

disuse.  It  was  re-introduced  iuto  the  Lutheran  Church 
by  Spener  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  Reformed 
Church  at  first  received  young  people  into  membership  by 
profession  of  faith  as  found  in  the  catechism.*  The  word 
confirmation  was  used  of  the  ordination  of  the  minister 
sometimes,  not  of  the  members.  Their  reception  into  the 
church  was  a  "  firmung/^  or  a  rite  without  laying  on  of 
hands.  Only  occasionally  did  it  appear  as  in  the  Hanau 
church  order  (1659).  The  rite  of  confirmation  was  urged 
by  individuals  and  prominent  Reformed  ministers  as  Peter 
Martyr,  Piscator,  Spanheim,  Maresius  and  others,  yet  it 
was  not  generally  in  use.  It  remained  for  the  Pietists  to 
bring  it  in  general  use.  It  was  introduced  as  we  see  by 
their  church  ordersf  into  Lippe,  in  1684;  Bremen, 
1686;  Palatinate,  1724;  Wittgenstein,  1746.  The 
General  Synod  of  Julich,  Cleve,  Berg  and  Mark  ordered 
a  general  introduction  of  it  as  late  as  1784.  And  when 
introduced,  the  Reformed  did  not  consider  it  as  hav- 
ing any  magical  power  in  it.  The  touch  of  the  minister's 
hands  did  not  sanctify,  only  the  Holy  Spirit's  touch. 
Neither  was  it  looked  on  so  much  as  a  confirmation  of 
baptism  (which  was  the  view  Spener  put  into  it),  as 
preparation  for  the  public  confession  of  faith  by  the  cate- 
chumens— that  is,  it  was  not  sacramentarian,  but  personal. 

*  Bachman  History  of  the  Introduction  of  Confirmation,  pages  74-76  and 
186-7. 

f  Bachman  History  of  the  Introduction  of  Confirmation,  pages  147,  162, 
167. 


402  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

It  meant  that  those  who  joined  church  not  only  made  a  pri- 
vate confession  of  faith  before  the  Presbyterium,  but  also 
in  this  confirmation  made  a  public  profession  of  faith 
before  the  whole  congregation.  The  Classis  of  Berg  dis- 
tinctly stated  that  no  one  should  be  confirmed  who  did  not 
of  his  own  free  will  accept  Christ  and  desire  to  profess  Him, 
All  forced  confirmation  or  mere  mechanical  confirmation 
was  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  the  Reformed  Church,  which 
always  emphasized  experience.  When  the  Lutherans  of 
Hanover  forced  a  compulsory  confirmation  on  the  Re- 
formed of  East  Friesland,  the  Reformed  complained  very 
bitterly.  There  are  some  who  look  on  confirmation  as  an 
act  of  High  Chiirchism.  The  reply  is  that  since  revivals 
and  High  Church  ism  do  not  go  together,  confirmation  in 
the  Reformed  Church  could  not  be  a  High  Church  custom, 
for  it  came  as  the  result  of  a  revival.  The  Reformed  idea 
of  it  has  nothing  sacramentarian  in  it.  The  Savior  never 
commanded  it,  as  he  did  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 
It  was  the  apostles'  rather  than  Christ's  custom.  Con- 
firmation means  nothing  more  than  a  public  profession  of 
faith  before  the  congregation,  the  acceptance  by  the  congre- 
gation of  that  confirmation  and  the  admission  of  the  con- 
firmed to  the  Lord's  Supper.  It  was  merely  the  revival 
of  the  old  custom  of  the  apostles',  mentioned  in  the  Acts. 
If  they  Avere  not  WTong  in  doing  it,  we  are  not.  The 
peculiar  impressiveness  of  the  rite  makes  it  very  suitable 
for  use  in  our  churches. 


PIETISM   AND   HYMNS.  403 

But  Pietism  not  only  revived  old  customs  and  put  new 
life  into  them  ;  it  also  introduced  new  ones.  Perhaps  the 
most  startling  change  was  the  introduction  of  hymns. 
The  Reformed  Church  of  Germany  had  been,  like  the 
other  Calvinistic  Churches,  a  Psalm-singing  Church  for 
about  a  century.  Since  the  days  of  Zwick  and  the  Stras- 
burg  hymn-writers  in  the  time  of  Bucer  (with  the  excep- 
tion of  Electress  Louisa  Henrietta),  they  had  produced  no 
hymns.  Dathenus  had  introduced  the  singing  of  Psalms 
(Old  Testament  hymns).  And  Lobwasser's  metrical  trans- 
lation of  the  Psalms,  set  to  Goudimals  melodies,  were 
everywhere  introduced,  so  that,  except  in  three  or  four 
parts  of  Germany,  where  a  hymn  would  be  sung  only  at 
communion  times,  no  hymns  were  used.*  The  exceptions 
to  this  rule  of  Psalm-singing  among  the  Reformed  were  : 
1)  In  the  county  of  Mark,  where  Lutheranism  was  pre- 
dominant, and  Lutheran  hymns  were  sometimes  used  by  the 
Reformed  ;  2)  In  Brandenburg,  Electress  Louisa  Henrietta 
of  Brandenburg  had  a  hymn  book  issued  in  1653,  in  which, 
besides  Psalms,  some  of  Luther's  hymns,  as  well  as  her 
own,  were  published  and  used  ;  3)  In  Bremen  it  was  cus- 
tomary to  sing  a  hymn  at  communion ;  4)  In  the  Palati- 
nate, where,  although  Elector  Frederick  III.  had  banished 
hymns,  they  were  re-introduced  by  the  Lutheran  Elector 
Lewis,  so  that  the  church  still  used  a  hymn  at  communion 
services.     But  with  these  few  exceptions,   Psalm-singing 

*  Koch,  History  of  Hymns,  Vol.  IV.,  page  172  ff,  Vol.  VI.,  page  1. 


404  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

was  universal.  Now  if  it  had  not  been  for  this  revival  of 
Pietism,  who  knows  but  we  might  still  be  singing  Psalms 
in  the  Reformed  Church  ?  We  therefore  have  Pietism  to 
thank  for  our  hymns.  For  Neander  brought  about  a  new 
era.  The  issue  of  his  Hymns  of  the  Covenant  in  1679 
began  a  new  day  for  the  Reformed.  Strange  as  it  may 
appear  to  us,  the  introduction  of  hymns  was  bitterly 
opposed  in  many  parts  of  the  Reformed  Church  as  an  inno- 
vation, as  the  old  Reformed  people  had  become  greatly 
wedded  to  the  Psalms.  They  held  that  God's  Word  (the 
Psalms),  and  not  man's  words  (the  hymns),  should  be 
sung  in  God's  worship.  And  in  their  Psalms  they  aimed 
at  the  literal  rather  than  a  rhythmical  translation,  so  that 
God's  Word  might  be  changed  as  little  as  possible.  The 
introduction  of  hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  like  Neander's, 
produced,  therefore,  a  great  sensation  among  them — as 
great  an  excitement  as  Lowell  Mason's  melodies  did  in 
the  early  part  of  this  century,  or  the  Moody  and  Sankey 
hymns  did  in  the  latter  part  of  this  century.  For  many 
years  Meander's  hymns  were  not  permitted  to  be  sung  in 
the  churches.  They  were,  however,  used  at  private  meet- 
ings, at  conventicles  and  prayer  meetings.  But  by  and 
by  they  became  so  popular  that  they  won  their  way  into 
the  churches,  for  the  Church  could  no  longer  afford  to 
pass  them  by.  So  after  well  nigh  a  century  and  a  half  of 
psalm  singing,  the  General  Synod  of  Julich,  Cleve,  Berg 
and  Mark  issued  a  new  hymn  book  in  1738,  which  added 


PIETISM    AND    MISSIONS.  405 

150  hymns  to  the  150  psalms  previously  in  use.  A  sec- 
ond appendix  was  added  (1773),  which  contained  224 
more  hymns.  Although  the  Berg  Synod  questioned  the 
orthodoxy  of  the  new  hymn  book,  it  came  into  general 
use  in  the  Synod,  and  also  in  the  county  of  Bentheim, 
which  was  not  included  in  that  General  Synod.*  Grad- 
ually the  hymns  have  replaced  the  psalms.  In  the  Mark 
the  old  Reformed  hymn  book  containing  the  psalms  is 
used  in  only  a  few  congregations,  although  in  Julich  and 
Berg  it  is  more  common.  So  we  have  to  thank  Pietism 
for  our  hymns.  As  music  is  the  life  of  the  Church  and 
hymns  the  keynote  of  her  progress,  we  can  see  how  far- 
reaching:  this  result  of  Pietism  was.  And  we  can  thank 
the  Pietists  for  giving  us  not  only  hymns,  but  the  very 
best  of  hymns,  which  have  won  the  German  heart,  and 
are,  many  of  them,  dear  to  us  in  their  English  translation. 
Another  result  of  Pietism  was  to  prepare  the  vmy  for 
Christian  missions.  "Pietism  has  been  the  father  of 
missions,"  says  Iken.  This  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  the 
Lutheran  school  of  Pietists  at  Halle  sent  missionaries  to 
India  and  Greenland.  They  also  sent  Muhlenberg  as  the 
first  Lutheran  Home  missionary  to  America.  (Formal 
Churches  do  not  care  enough  for  the  salvation  of  the  world 
to  send  out  foreign  missionaries.  Pietism  gave  the 
impulse.)     We  find  in  the  Reformed  Church,  too,  Pietism 

*■  At  present  Jorissen's  psalms  are  used  at  Elberfeld,  instead   of  Lobwas- 
ser's. 


406  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

gave  the  impulse  to  missions.  The  first  Pietistic  preach- 
ers of  Holland,  Thelinck  and  Lodenstein,  made  the  salva- 
tion of  the  heathen  a  matter  of  conscience.  Holland  sent 
out  missionaries  to  the  Dutch  East  Indias  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  who  made  424,000  converts  in  Ceylon, 
and  100,000  in  Java,  and  30,000  in  Amboyna.  It  is 
true  the  work  was  superficially  done,  owing  to  the  con- 
nection of  the  Church  with  the  State,  and  also  to  their  inex- 
perience in  managing  missionary  work,  yet  for  the  impulse 
that  led  to  this  work.  Pietism  should  have  the  credit. 
Lampe  also  in  his  introductory  sermon  at  Utrecht  says, 
'^  What  a  beautiful  door  has  the  Lord  opened  to  our  Neth- 
erlands to  carry  the  gospel  through  their  wide  spreading 
commerce  from  the  going  down  of  the  sun  to  its  rising, 
to  both  Indias  and  the  farther  ends  of  the  earth.  We 
ought  to  show  our  thankfulness  to  him  for  the  light  of 
grace  we  have  received  by  carefully  endeavoring  to  bring 
the  candlestick  which  was  brought  to  us  from  the  Orient 
there  again.  We  seem  to  be  as  busy  with  our  wicked 
example  in  hindering  the  conversion  of  the  heathen,  as 
the  early  Christians  were  busy  in  furthering  it  by  their 
good  example  and  burning  zeal.''  Mel  was  also  an  ardent 
friend  of  Missions.  In  1700,  at  the  marriage  of  the  Crown 
Prince  Frederick  of  Hesse,  he  published  a  pamphlet  in 
favor  of  Foreign  Missions.  He  also  sought  to  interest 
those  who  had  means  and  influence  in  the  work.  The 
next  vear  he  laid  before  Kins^   Frederick  of  Prussia  and 


PIETISM    AND    MISSIONS.  407 

the  Prussian  A  cademy  of  Science  a  plan  for  the  conversion 
of  the  heathen,  which  was  a  most  wonderfully  complete 
compendium,  and  revealed  his  broad,  far-seeing  mind. 
At  the  same  time  he  had  a  correspondence  with  the  Eng- 
lish missionary,  Dr.  Bicker,  who  gave  him  two  letters 
from  Syria  and  Arabia,  which  he  liad  published  as  the 
first  Evangelical  Missionary  Leaves.  He  also  preached 
earnestly  on  the  subject  of  missions  from  the  pulpit.  As 
a  recognition  of  his  zeal  for  missions,  he  was  elected  in 
1706  a  member  of  the  English  ^^  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
gation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts'' — the  oldest 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  England.  In  return  for 
this  honor,  Mel,  when  he  published  in  1711  his  work  on 
missions,  put  these  letters  as  an  appendix,  and  dedicated 
them  to  that  English  Missionary  Society  and  to  its  presi- 
dent, the  Bishop  of  Oxford.  The  Pietists  in  the  Reformed 
Church  sent  their  money  for  Foreign  Missions  through 
the  Halle  Missionary  Society.  But  in  1799  a  missionary 
society  was  founded  at  Elberfeld,  the  fruits  of  Pietism 
there.  Pietism  also  showed  its  love  for  missions  in  the 
home  field  as  well  as  in  the  foreign.  The  zealous  house 
to  house  visitation  of  the  Pietists  has  well  been  said  to 
be  the  forerunner  of  Dr.  Wichern's  Innere  Mission  move- 
ment in  Germany.  For  us  in  America  there  is  an  inter- 
esting fact  to  be  noticed,  namely,  that  the  band  of  six 
young  men,  who  at  the  urgent  request  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Schlatter,  came  to  this  country  in  1752,  and  who   became 


408  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

some  of  the  earliest  ministers  of  our  Church,  Avere  from 
the  University  of  Herborn,  which  was  full  of  Pietism. 
Professors  Schramm  and  Arnolcli  there  were  Cocceians  in 
theology  and  Pietists  in  church  work,  and  urged  the  young 
men  to  go  to  distant  America.  Thus,  just  as  the  Luth- 
eran school  of  Pietists  at  Halle  sent  out  Muhlenberg  to 
America  to  found  the  Lutheran  Church,  so  the  Pietistic 
University  of  Herborn  sent  out  its  students  to  aid  in 
founding  the  Reformed  Church  here,  and  plant  in  her  the 
seed  of  earnest  piety  and  aggressive  church  work. 

AYe  have  thus  traced  Pietism  from  its  beginning  in 
the  days  of  Zwingli,  Calvin  and  Lasco  through  its 
development  to  its  triumph  in  the  beginning  of  the  eight- 
teenth  century.  It  is  very  evident  that  the  Reformed 
Church  did  not  cast  oiF  Pietism  as  being  un-Reformed. 
On  the  contrary,  she  accepted  it  and  developed  it.  When 
her  highest  officers,  as  presidents  of  the  Coetus  at  Emden, 
like  Buchwalder  and  Alardin,  when  leading  professors  of 
theology,  like  Lampe  and  Hottinger,  when  leading 
Reformed  Princes,  as  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  and 
leading  Synods,  like  the  General  Synod  of  Julich,  Cleve, 
Berg  and  Mark,  endorsed  it,  it  is  very  evident  that  Piet- 
ism was  not  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  Reformed  Church. 
It  was  not  something  foreign  to  the  Reformed  Church, 
but  became  an  integral  part  of  her  life,  her  history  and 
genius.     Pietism   continued   to  develop,   until    it  gained 


RESULTS    OF    PIETISM.  409 

control  of  all  the  universities  save  one.  Ebrard  says  :* 
"By  1740  Pietism  was  ruling  every  where,  while  the  rest 
of  the  orthodox  party  flung  themselves  into  the  university 
of  Erlangen.''  The  Reformed  Church,  which  saved  Piet- 
ism to  the  Lutheran  Church  by  receiving  Spener  into 
Brandenburg,  found  Pietism  a  great  blessing  to  herself. 
It  made  her  broader  in  her  sympathies,  and  more  effective 
in  her  activities.  It  prepared  her  for  the  problems  of  the 
future  about  to  come  before  her.  Foreign  and  Home 
Missions  were  nursed  in  her  bosom.  Her  catechization 
of  the  children  was  the  germ  of  the  modern  Sunday  school. 
Pietism  prepared  the  Church  for,  and  strengthened  her  in, 
the  terrible  struggles  with  Rationalism.  It  thus  became 
of  incalculable  benefit,  as  well  as  of  distinguished  honor, 
to  the  Reformed  Church.  The  Reformed  ministers  of 
Germany  do  not  speak  slightingly  of  Pietism,  as  do  some 
in  our  own  land.  They  thank  God  for  the  Pietism  of  the 
past.  And  if  our  Reformed  Church  would  be  prepared 
for  future  conflicts  and  conquests,  she  must  do  as  the 
Reformed  Church  did  two  hundred  years  ago,  she  must 
nourish  the  spirit  of  Pietism  that  is  within  her.  When 
it  begins  to  assume  extravagant  forms,  instead  of  perse- 
cuting it,  she  ought  to  divert  it  into  the  right  channels 
and  control  it.  The  best  antidote  for  the  wildfire,  noisy 
anxious  bench   is   not   formalism,  but   quiet   revivalism, 

i^  Church  History,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  120. 
27 


410  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

with  its  solemn  meetings  and  sound  doctrines.  Says  Rev. 
Dr.  J.  W.  Nevin  :*  ^^  Dead  churches  and  dead  ministers, 
that  tarn  catechetical  instruction  into  an  empty  form,  and 
make  no  account  of  inward  piety  as  a  necessary  qualifica- 
tion for  membership  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  have  no  right 
most  assuredly  to  identify  themselves  with  the  system  of  the 
catechism." — '^  To  call  into  question  either  the  reality  or 
the  desirableness  of  a  revival,  is  a  monstrous  skepticism, 
that  may  be  said  to  border  on  the  sin  of  infidelity  itself." 
— "  Churches  that  hate  revivals,  love  death."  Thus, 
blessed  by  Pietism  sanctified  to  the  service  of  the  Church, 
the  Reformed  Church  will  move  on  with  the  age,  and 
gain  greater  conquests  in  the  future  than  she  has  gained 
in  the  past. 

••••  Anxious  Bench,  p.  136. 


BOOK  V. 


EATIONALISM. 


CHAPTER  I. 
INTRODUCTION. 

The  next  foe  the  Reformed  Charch  had  to  meet,  after 
the  persecutions  of  Romanism,  was  Rationalism.  Rational- 
ism is  the  theory  that  makes  man's  reason  the  proof  and 
judge  of  all  things.  Over  against  this,  the  orthodox 
claimed  that  reason  in  itself  never  could  solve  the  prob- 
lems of  the  universe  or  enable  the  soul  to  find  its  way  back 
to  God.  There  have  been  many  different  phases  of 
Rationalism,  but  the  Rationalism  in  Germany  may  be 
reduced  to  three  main  kinds,  intellectual,  moral  and 
pantheistic.  The  first  was  Rationalism  pure  and 
simple,  which  enthroned  the  intellect  and  appeared 
as  Deism  in  England,  Illuminism  in  France  and 
Rationalism  in  Germany.  When  this  had  run  itself 
out,  there  arose  another  theory  to  destroy  it.  This 
enthroned  not  the  intellectual,  but  the  ethical  (conscience). 
Kant  dealt  Deism  a  death  blow  from  Avhich  it  has  never 
recovered.     But  he  did  not  lead  the  minds  of  men  back  to 


412  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

God,  for  he  emphasized  the  conscience  so  much  that  it 
became  man's  cruide  instead  of  revelation.  Morality  could 
save  a  man  without  the  necessity  of  an  atonement. 
Although  it  destroyed  the  old,  it  brought  in  a  new,  Ration- 
alism (of  the  conscience).  But  when  Kantianism  had  run 
itself  out  to  this  logical  sequence,  there  arose  still  another 
Rationalism.  Men  reacted  against  the  deism  of  the  pre- 
vious century,  wliich  put  God  outside  the  universe.  They 
now  went  to  the  other  extreme,  into  Pantheism,  which 
made  the  universe  to  be  God.  Pantheism  came  to  destroy 
Rationalism,  but  still  it  did  not  bring  the  people  back  to 
God,  for  it  was  one-sided,  just  as  the  other  theories  had 
been.  Against  the  ethical  theory  of  Kant  it  reacted  into 
the  fascinating  theory  of  the  divine  in  nature,  as  in  Schel- 
ling.  Not  man  alone  has  the  divine  in  him  in  conscience  ; 
all  nature  has  God'  in  it,  for  nature  is  God.  Thus  we 
see  how  again  and  again,  in  these  theories,  the  human 
intellect  under  various  phases  asserted  itself  against  the 
Gospel.  First  it  said  the  intellect  could  save  ;  then  it 
said  morality  could  save ;  and  finally  it  declared  that  self 
was  God  and  needed  no  salvation  (this  is  the  ultimate  result 
of  Pantheism.)  We  are  God,  and  around  us  everything 
revolves.  This  Pantheistic  theory  is  a  deification  of  self 
and  diifers  from  the  two  previous  theories  in  deifying  not 
a  part  of  man,  as  the  intellect  or  conscience,  but  the  whole 
of  man  centering  in  self.  These  Avere  the  forms  of  Ra- 
tionalism that  the  Reformed  had  to  meet  and  conquer. 


CHAPTER  II. 

RATIONALISM  IN  THE  REFORMED  CHURCH. 

Rationalism  began  in  Germany  with  Professor  Wolf 
at  Halle.  Historically,  therefore,  it  was  the  outgrowth  of 
Lutheranism,  for  Halle  was  Lutheran,  and  Wolf  simply 
formulated  Leibnitz's  views,  although  Leibnitz  was  not  a 
rationalist.  Wolf  began  his  philosophy  with  the  idea 
that  he  could  prove  the  divine  by  mathematical  demon- 
stration, forgetting  that  the  sphere  of  the  ethical  and  reli- 
gious cannot  be  proved  by  mathematics.  So  instead  of 
making  the  proofs  of  religion  stronger,  he  weakened  them. 
The  professors  of  Halle  complained,  to  the  Elector  of 
Brandenburg  against  Wolf.  The  Elector,  jealous  for  the 
cause  of  true  religion,  gave  an  order,  November  8,  1723, 
that  Wolf  should  leave  his  dominions  within  forty-eight 
hours  or  be  hung,  and  he  forbade  any  of  his  people  from 
reading  his  dangerous  works  under  a  penalty  of  a  fine  of 
100  ducats  for  each  offence.*     But  Wolf  only  left  one 

*  The  Elector  was  not  a  philosopher,  and  once  asked  in  his  famous  Tobacco 
Congress,  "  What  is  the  doctrine  of  pre-established  harmony  which  is  charged 
against  Wolf?"  To  which  the  court  fool  replied,  "  If  your  tallest  grenadier 
runs  away  (the  Elector  had  a  hobby — namely,  tall  soldiers),  he  cannot  be  pun- 
ished, because  his  running  away  was  a  piece  of  pre-established  harmony." 
The  Elector  saw  that  such  views  would  break  up  his  army,  which  was  his 
pride,  and  so  became  very  bitter  against  Wolfianism. 


414  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

Reformed  State  for  another.  For  Landgrave  Charles  of 
Hesse-Cassel  invited  him  to  become  professor  at  Marburg. 
There  he  taught  for  seventeen  years,  and  gradually  his 
views  filled  the  university. 

A  change,  however,  took  place  when  King  Frederick 
William  I.  died,  and  his  son,  Frederick  II.  (or  Frederick 
the  Great),  came  to  the  throne.  The  latter  had  been  care- 
fully trained  by  his  father  in  the  Reformed  faith,  but  was 
brought  up  under  the  fear  of  God,  rather  than  of  God's 
love.  His  religious  training  was  made  a  task  to  him, 
rather  than  a  delight.  His  teachers,  court  preacher  An- 
drea and  Duhan  (who  was  a  follower  of  Naude)  were  high 
predestinarians.  But  his  father,  who  held  to  the  views 
akin  to  the  Saumur  school,  was  bitterly  opposed  to  Supra- 
lapsarianism  and  often  took  sides  against  his  son,  who 
followed  his  teachers'  views.  When  Frederick  the  Great 
was  thrown  into  prison,  the  Lutheran  chaplain  Muller 
was  sent  to  try  and  bring  him  to  better  ways.  Frederick, 
who  was  fond  of  argument,  could  not  help  getting  into 
an  argument  with  Muller  on  predestination.  Frederick 
afterwards  acknowledged  that  he  held  predestination  more 
as  a  philosophical  doctrine  than  for  any  practical  benefit 
to  his  life.  This  difference  between  his  father  and  him- 
self on  predestination  grew  into  a  greater  difference  as  he 
grew  older.  When  he  was  a  boy  of  eight,  he  wrote  in 
his  confession  of  faith,  in  which  he  said  :  ^^  One  must 
never  be  untrue  to  the  Reformed  religion."     Would  that 


415 


he  had  not  been.  As  late  as  1735  he  wrote  to  the  Prince 
of  Orange  his  high  appreciation  of  the  Reformed  religion. 
In  1749  he  put  Ruiger  into  Spandau  for  attacking  reli- 
gion. But  alas  !  he  came  under  the  corrupting  influence 
of  the  Saxon  court,  where  French  infidelity,  drunkenness 
and  lust  reigned,  and  he  was  turned  into  the  leader  of 
the  rationalists  of  Germany.  Lutheranism  gave  the  phil- 
osopher of  rationalism  in  Wolf,  and  the  Reformed  gave 
its  King.  One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  recall  Wolf  from 
Marburg.  Wolf  returned  to  Halle,  and  on  December  6, 
1740,  he  made  a  triumphal  entry  into  the  town  like  an 
old  Roman  Emperor,  w^here  he  was  made  permanent  rec- 
tor, while  the  King  elevated  him  to  be  a  baron.  The 
victory  of  rationalism  seemed  complete.  The  King  set 
the  fashion  for  it.  His  genius  gave  eclat  to  it.  His  vic- 
tories in  battle  added  lustre  to  it.  He  crowned  his  acts 
by  inviting  Voltaire  to  Berlin,  in  1750,  to  popularize  free 
thought.  But  they  could  not  agree,  and  within  three 
years  Voltaire  had  run  away  from  Berlin,  while  all  Eu- 
rope laughed  at  the  frailties  and  foibles  of  these  two  infidel 
leaders.  Berlin  thus  became  the  centre  of  rationalism, 
from  which  its  baneful  influences  went  out  in  all  direc- 
tions. 

And  yet,  while  Frederick  the  Great  fostered  Rational- 
ism, there  were  noble  witnesses  for  orthodoxy  in  his  very 
c^urt  and  capital.  While  this  terrible  tide  went  over 
Germany  like  a  flood,  there  were  noble    Christians  who 


416  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

stood  up  for  the  old  faith.  Among  them  were  some 
Reformed,  who  bore  witness  to  the  truth  even  in  Ci^sar's 
household.  We  can  mention  only  a  few  of  the  most 
important.  Among  his  own  officers  and  soldiers  there 
were  still  witnesses  for  the  truth,  like  Van  Ziethen. 

Prince  Charles  of  Hesse,  who  was  Reformed,  tells  the 
following  story :  ''  I  dined  every  day  with  the  King. 
One  day  I  had  a  sufficiently  animated  conversation  with 
him  on  the. subject  o"  religion.  He  could  not  see  a  cruci- 
fix without  blaspheming,  and  when  he  spoke  of  it  at 
dinner,  as  well  as  of  the  Christian  religion,  I  could  not 
join  the  conversation,  but  looked  down  and  preserved  a 
complete  silence.  At  length  he  turned  to  me  with  vivac- 
ity, and  said  :  ^  Tell  me,  my  dear  Prince,  do  you  believe 
these  things?'  I  replied  in  a  firm  vo  ce  :  ^  Sire,  I  am  not 
more  sure  of  having  the  honor  of  seeing  you,  than  I  am 
that  Jesus  Christ  existed,  and  died  for  us  as  our  Savior 
on  the  cross.'  The  King  remained  a  moment  buried  in 
thought,  and  grasping  me  suddenly  by  the  right  arm,  he 
pressed  it  strongly  and  said  :  ^  Well,  my  dear  Prince,  you 
are  the  first  man  of  spirit,  who  has  ever  declared  such  a 
belief  in  my  hearing.'  After  passing  through  the  adjoin- 
ing chamber  the  same  afternoon,  I  found  General  Yanen- 
zien,  the  greatest  and  strongest-minded  man  I  ever  knew\ 
He  had  heard  what  had  passed.  He  put  his  hands  on 
my  shoulders  and  covered  me  with  a  torrent  of  tear^, 
saying :  '  Now  God  be  praised.     I  have  lived  to  see  one 


DEFENDERS    OF    ORTHODOXY.  417 

honest  man  acknowledge  Christ  to  the  Kmg's  face.'  I 
cannot  retrace  this  happy  moment  of  my  life  without  the 
greatest  gratitude  to  God,  for  having  vouchsafed  to  me 
the  opportunity  of  confessing  before  the  King  my  faith  in 
God  and  His  Son." 

Another  Christian  witness  was  Prince  Leopold  of 
Dessau,  a  Reformed  Prince  of  the  Anhalt  line.  He  was 
one  of  the  greatest  of  Frederick's  Generals,  having  been 
Frederick's  military  tutor  when  a  boy.  He  was  really 
the  founder  of  the  German  army,  and,  as  Carlyle  says, 
the  inventor  of  the  ramrod  and  modern  military  tactics. 
Yoltaire  says,  he  was  the  most  experienced  officer  in 
Europe.  He  was  a  man  of  iron,  with  the  heart  of  a 
woman.*  He  was  not  afraid  to  confess  his  Lord  to  his 
King,  for  he  was  a  devout  man — a  man  of  prayer.  He 
never  went  into  a  battle  without  asking  God's  aid.  He 
had  seized  Leipsic  and  wanted  to  go  to  Dresden,  when  he 
was  attacked  by  the  enemy.  He  uncovered  his  head,  and, 
in  the  presence  of  his  troops,  offered  the  following  prayer : 
"  O,  my  God,  help  me  yet  this  once.  Let  me  not  be  dis- 
graced in  my  old  days.  But  if  thou  wilt  not  help  me, 
don't  help  those  scoundrels,  but  leave  us  to  try  it  out 
ourselves."     Having   uttered   this  prayer,  he   waved  his 

■-■="  When  his  daughter  wanted  to  see  him,  a  few  days  before  she  died,  he 
marched  his  troops  to  Ilalle,  thirty  miles  away,  and  when  he  saw  his  child  at 
the  window,  he  had  them  maneuvre  before  her.  Then  he  sent  them  to  eat, 
while  he  stole  away  to  the  bridge  over  the  river  Saale,  and  like  a  child  wept 
into  the  river. 


418  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

hat  to  his  troops  and  shouted, "  On,  in  God's  name."  He 
gained  a  wonderful  victory,  for  which  Frederick,  when 
he  met  him,  uncovered  his  head,  and  threw  his  arms 
around  him. 

There  were  other  Keformed  witnesses  to  the  truth  in 
Frederick's    court,    who    were    ministers,    not    soldiers. 
They   boldly   stood    up    for    Christianity.     The   French 
ministers  at  Berlin  did  so.     Their  leader  was   Beausobre 
(who    was   pastor   at    Berlin    for  forty-six  years).      He 
had   calls    to   Utrecht,  Hamburg   and   Savoy   church   in 
London,  but  remained  in  Berlin.     Frederick  the   Great 
had  a  very  high  regard   for  him.     When  Frederick  was 
Crown   Prince,    he   had     heard    Beausobre   preach,    and 
wondered  at  his  learning.     For  Beausobre  was  one  of  the 
most  eloquent  preachers  of  his  day.     He  was  an  old  man 
when  Frederick  came  to  the  throne,  but  still  full   of  fire 
and  vigor.     He  revealed  his  great  learning  in  a  number 
of  works  on  Church  history,  as  his  History  of  Maniche- 
ism  and  of  the  Keformation.     He  was  an  uncompromis- 
ing foe  of  the  Jesuits.     Frederick  wrote  in  1736  to  Vol- 
taire :  "  I  know  in  my  fatherland  two  ministers,  who  are 
truth-loving  philosophers,  and  because  of  their  true  activity 
and  openheartedness  they  are  not  worthy  to  be  exchanged 
for  others.     This   witness  I  owe  Beausobre   and   Eein- 
beck.''     Frederick  names  Beausobre  as  the  finest  writer 
in   Berlin,  and  the  finest   talent   which   the  persecutions 
drove  out  of  France.     Frederick's  high   regard    for  the 


COURT  PREACHER  SACK.  419 

French  refugees  is  shown  in  a  letter  to  d'Alembert  in 
1720,  when  he  says:  "Allow  me  to  think  differently 
from  yourself  about  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Man- 
tes. I  thank  Louis  XIV.  very  much  for  it,  and  will 
thank  his  descendent,  if  he  will  do  it  over  again/'  These 
French  refugees,  having  sacrificed  all  for  their  faith,  w^ere 
not  afraid  to  defend  it  against  the  persecutions  of  Ration- 
alism, as  they  had  done  against  the  persecutions  of 
Romanism. 

But  even  more  important  than  Beausobre  in  his 
influence,  w^as  Frederick  the  Great's  court  preacher,  A. 
F.  W.  Sack.  During  the  whole  reign  of  Frederick  he 
stood  as  a  bulwark  against  infidelity.  His  master  might 
deny  Christ  in  the  palace,  he  would  preach  Him  in  the 
cathedral  next  door.  He  had  been  appointed  court 
preacher  by  Frederick's  father  just  before  he  died.  The 
old  man,  foreseeing  perhaps  the  evil  days  of  Rationalism, 
gave  Sack  some  good  advice  :  "  Hold  thyself  to  the  New 
Testament.  To  fear  God,  to  love  Christ  and  to  do  right 
are  the  chief  things  in  religion."  Sack  fulfilled  the 
King's  dying  command  during  the  reign  of  his  son.  He 
was  born  at  Anhalt,  and  educated  at  Frankford  on  the 
Oder  and  Ley  den.  At  Leyden  he  met  Barbeyrac,  the 
Swiss  theologian,  who  had  left  Switzerland  because  of  his 
liberal  ideas.  From  him  Sack  seems  to  have  developed 
into  larger  sympathies  for  truth  in  any  form.  This 
peculiarity  enabled  him  to  retain  the  respect  of  the  infidel 


420  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

King,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  uphold  the  Reformed 
faith.  He  was  a  learned  man,  his  linguistic  and  philosophi- 
cal studies  giving  him  influence  with  scholars  and  with 
the  King,  and  the  opponents  of  Christianity.  In  1745 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  in  • 
Berlin.  Sack,  it  is  true,  made  concessions  to  natural 
religion,  and  yet  he  demanded  a  revelation  in  addition  to 
reason.  He  represented  virtue  as  the  essential  element  of 
religion,  and  divine  revelation  as  the  confirmation  of  nat- 
ural  religion. 

Over  against  the  Rationalists  he  published  his 
greatest  work  in  1751,  entitled  ^' The  Defence  of  Chris- 
tianity.'^  In  it  he  defends  the  very  doctrines  attacked  by 
the  King,  revelation  and  immortality.  He  concedes  the 
power  of  natural  theology,  but  is  a  Supernaturalist.*  He 
shows  the  special  need  of  faith  in  Christ  as  the  Mediator, 
and  he  also  shows  the  truth  of  immortality.  But  his 
influences  reached  beyond  his  writings.  For  forty 
years  he  preached  in  the  cathedral,  and  there  was  an  unc- 
tion in  his  sermons  (so  different  from  the  Rationalists), 
that  brought  the  hearer  nearer  to  Christ.  His  sermons 
were  published  and  went  through  many  editions.f  A 
very  fruitful  labor  of  Sack's  were  his  meetings  on  Sunday 

*  "  The  objective  conditions  of  salvation,"  he  says,  "are  miraculously  pre- 
pared in  redemption,  the  subjective  appropriation  of  them  left  to  man's  free- 
dom. God  cannot  convert  man  without  man.  Man  cannot  convert  himself 
without  God." 

I  The  pious  wife  of  Frederick  the  Great,  although  a  Lutheran  herself,  pub- 
lished six  of  them  in  1778,  writing  for  them  a  most  beautiful  introduction. 


421 


afternoous,  when  he  gathered  the  Reformed  students  of 
the  ministry  together  at  his  liouse.  There  he  talked 
with  them  familiarly,  answering  theii  questions  and  lead- 
ing their  thoughts  above  the  vapid  Rationalism  of  the 
day  to  God  and  Christ. 

His  most  important  labor,  however,  w^as  as  religious 
teacher  of  the  next  king  when  a  boy.  Prussia  owes  it  to 
him  that  its  succeeding  kings  were  orthodox.  Frederick 
the  Great  had  wandered  from  orthodoxy.  Sack  brought 
the  royal  line  back  again.  During  the  Seven  Years'  War, 
when  the  court  was  at  Magdeburg,  Sack  taught  the  young 
Prince.  With  what  great  care  and  faithfulness  and  anx- 
iety he  did  it.  He  realized  his  great  responsibility  for 
the  nation  ;  for  its  millions  and  the  future  of  Germany 
hung  on  his  shoulders.*  It  was  through  his  wise  and 
liberal  but  orthodox  teachings  that  the  young  Prince 
accepted  the  old  faith  instead  of  the  prevalent  Rationalism 
of  the  day,  and  so  the  line  of  Prussian  Kings,  so  mighty 
in  influence,  was  preserved  for  Christ.  The  Reformed 
Church  and  the  Christian  world  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude 
to  Sack  for  saving  the  crown  of  Germany  to   orthodoxy. f 

But  Rationalism  appeared  in  other  places  than  at  the 

*  Life  of  Sack,  by  his  son,  page  82. 

t  What  a  lesson  of  encouragement  there  is  here  for  the  Christian  minister  or 
worker.  He  little  knows  the  result  of  his  work.  Sack  in  saving  a  soul,  saved 
a  nation,  and  virtually  saved  Protestant  Europe  for  orthodoxy,  for  Germany 
is  the  leading  Protestant  nation  of  that  continent,  Similar  results  may  come 
from  our  work.  For  no  act  is  small  when  done  for  Christ.  Doing  it  for  Him 
makes  it  great. 


422  THE   KEFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

court.  It  began  to  permeate  everything  and  to  spread 
everywhere.  It  appeared  in  the  universities,  where 
rationalistic  professors  taught  it,  although  Ave  are  glad  to 
say,  few  of  them  were  from  the  Reformed  Church.  It 
appeared  in  the  ministers,  for  they  learned  it  in  the  uni- 
versities. They  no  longer  preached  the  old  doctrines,  but 
preached  morality  and  virtue  instead."^  It  acquired  so  much 
power  that  it  began  to  reform  the  liturgies  and  the  hymn 
books,  and  even  remodel  the  Bible.  Thus  the  first  verse 
of  it  ("  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the 
earth ")  was  changed  to  make  it  harmonize  better  with 
science  and  read  thus  :  "  God  eternal  by  whom  nothing 
exists,  made  a  commencement  of  all  things  by  calling  into 
being:  the  constituent  elements  thereof.''  Thus  the 
naturalness  and  unction  of  the  Bible  was  destroyed. 

In  this  movement  a  Reformed  minister  was  quite 
prominent,  George  Jacob  Pauli,  pastor  of  the  German  Re- 
formed church  at  Halle.  His  father  who  had  preceded 
him  as  pastor  at  Halle,  had  been  a  most  pious  man,  a 
descendent  of  the  great  Reformed  theologian,  Tossanus. 
What  a  difference  between  father  and  son.  The  latter 
became  pastor  at  Halle  in  1775.  He  was  a  Rationalist 
of  the  purest  water,  but  active  and  amiable.  He  found  it 
hard  to  preach  on  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  on  Sunday 

•■••  Sermons  became  moral  essays.  Thus  a  Christmas  sermon  on  Christ's 
birth  in  a  stable  had  for  its  theme,  "  The  best  way  to  feed  cattle,"  and  an 
Easter  sermon  on  the  resurrection,  has  as  its  theme,  "  The  benefits  of  early 
rising." 


423 

afternoons,  as  was  the  custom,  because  he  did  not  believe 
its  doctrines.  So  he  finally  got  out  an  edition  of  his  own, 
which  omitted  all  that  Avas  polemical.  And  what 
appeared  to  him  difficult  of  belief,  was  printed  in  small 
letters.  He  also  avoided  all  Pietism  in  the  catechism. 
But  his  greatest  change  was  in  the  hymn  book.  The 
Eationalists  were  bitterly  opposed  to  the  old  Reformed 
Psalms.  He,  like  them,  tinkered  the  old  hymns,  for  the 
Rationalists  sought  to  improve  them  by  leaving  out  all 
that  was  supernatural.^  Every  element  of  devotion  and 
fancy  was  taken  out  of  them.  Pauli^s  hymn  book  con- 
tained 363  hymns,  and  was  introduced  into  his  church  on 
March  8,  1795,  just  after  his  death.  There  are  marked 
changes  in  this  book.  Of  Luther's  great  hymn,  only  in 
the  last  verse  was  the  ^^  Lord's  Sabaoth"  retained.  Thus 
there  was  sung  to  the  tune  "  Nun  danket  alle  Gott,"  a 
hymn  '^  Thou  desireth,  Lord  my  God,  that  I  love  myself" 
Hymns  thus  descended  to  moral  duties.  There  was  no 
aspiration  to  God  in  them.  They  became  mere  platitudes 
without  piety  or  poetry.  As  Albertz  says  :  "  They  were 
neither  the  song  of  Moses  nor  the  song  o^  the  Lamb,  but 
were  without  depth  of  faith,  or  strength  of  poetry." 

*  An  amusing  illustration  is  told  of  their  attempt  to  change  Gerhardt's 
hymn,  "  Now  peaceful  all  the  forests  rest."  But  as  that  was  too  poetic,  for 
forests  do  not  rest,  they  changed  into  "  Now  peaceful  rests  the  entire  world," 
But  then  this  was  found  not  to  square  with  science,  for  the  whole  world 
does  not  rest  at  once,  as  only  half  of  the  human  race  are  asleep  at  a  time.  So 
they  changed  it  further  into  "Now  peaceful  rests  a  hemisphere."  Paul 
Gerhardt  would  hardly  have  recognized  his  own  hymn. 


424  THE    EEFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

But  in  spite  of  all  the  Kationalism  of  the  day,  the 
truth  lived  on.  When  Frederick  died  in  1786,  there  came 
a  reaction,  for  Rationalism  failed  to  satisfy  men's  hearts. 
The  next  King,  Frederick  William  II.,  alarmed  at  the 
frivolity  of  the  age,  and  realizing  his  responsibility  as  the 
head  of  the  State  and  of  the  Chnreh,  issued  an  edict  in 
1788,  by  the  advice  of  his  ecclesiastical  councillor,  Woll- 
ner.  This  decree  extolled  the  orthodoxy  of  the  past,  and 
ordered  that  all  ministers  and  school  teachers  should 
adhere  to  the  doctrines  of  the  old  symbolical  books,  and  if 
they  did  not,  they  would  be  liable  to  be  removed.  The 
King  tried  to  carry  out  this  decree  by  appointing  a  com- 
mission in  1792  to  examine  all  candidates  for  the  ministry, 
and  thus  prevent  the  Rationalists  from  getting  into  the 
ministry.  But  all  this  raised  a  tremendous  storm.  Many 
of  the  Germans  looked  at  this  as  tyranny  or  Caesaropapie. 
The  Rationalists  boasted  that  it  sho^yed  that  orthodoxy 
meant  tyranny,  and  Rationalism  meant  religious  freedom. 
The  decree  could  not  be  carried  out,  for  as  some  one  says  : 
"  Religion  was  not  a  matter  of  police  law.  The  faith  of  a 
nation  can  not  be  prescribed  like  the  cutting  and  fitting  of 
a  uniform."  The  King  did  remove  one  Rationalistic 
pastor,  Schultz  of  Gielsdorf,  who  had  attacked  Christi- 
anity in  a  book,  but  they  gave  him  a  civil  position  to 
atone  for  it.  A  commission  travelled  up  and  down  the 
land  to  purge  the  schools  and  the  churches,  but  they  met 
with  a  cold  reception,  especially  at  Halle,  where  the  stu- 


THE   KING   AND    RATIONALISM.  425 

dents  expelled  them  in  1795.  The  next  King  revoked 
this  decree  against  the  Rationalists.  Rationalism  was  to 
be  put  down,  not  by  a  movement  downward  from  the 
King,  but  upward  through  the  people  and  the  universi- 
ties. Rationalism  had  to  be  met  with  in  the  realm  of 
thought  and  not  by  force,  its  errors  answered  by  truth 
and  its  deadness  by  earnest  Christian  life.  These  answers 
in  the  Reformed  Church  we  will  notice  in  the  succeeding 
chapters. 


28 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    OFFICIAL    ANSWERS    TO    RATIONAllSM 
BY  THE  REFORMED. 

Never  in  any  age  has  God  left  Himself  without  a  wit- 
ness. Among  His  witnesses,  faithful  and  true,  the 
Reformed  have  ever  held  an  honored  and  prominent 
place.  Her  members  sealed  their  faith  with  their  blood 
on  many  days  of  martyrdom.  And  when  persecution  by 
force  gave  way  to  persecution  in  thought  (Rationalism), 
she  was  still  true  to  her  character  as  a  witnessing  Church. 
Her  part  in  this  great  controversy  with  free  thought  has 
often  been  forgotten  or  ignored.  It  is,  therefore,  all  the 
more  important  that  it  should  be  told  and  measured. 

SECTION  I. 

THE   GENERAL  CHARACTER  OF  THE   OPPOSITION  TO 
RATIONALISM. 

The  Reformed  Church  was  less  aifected  by  Rational- 
ism than  her  sister  Church,  because  there  were  forces 
inherent  in  her  genius  and  history  that  enabled  her  the 
better  to  resist  its  inroads.     For 

(1)  She  was  a  Biblical  Church.  While  the  Lutheran 
Church  emphasized  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  she 


REFORMED    PECULIARITIES.  427 

brought  into  prominence  the  supremacy  of  the  Scriptures. 
The  Bible  was  the  centre  of  her  creeds  and  the  guide  to 
her  worship.  And  her  innate  faith  in  the  Bible  as  the 
revelation  of  God  enabled  her  the  better  to  resist  the 
Rationalists,  who  denied  the  need  of  a  revelation. 

(2)  She  was  a  catechetical  Church.  Every  Sabbath 
her  ministers  preached  on  the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  By 
so  doing  they  indoctrinated  their  people  against  the 
Rationalists,  thus  enabling  them  to  be  able  to  give  a  rea- 
son for  the  hope  that  was  within  them.  This  preaching 
on  the  catechism  too  had  a  tendency  to  keep  Rationalists 
from  entering  her  pulpits,  for  it  put  them  in  the  dilemma 
of  either  preaching  on  doctrines  of  that  creed  which  they 
did  not  believe,  or  of  spending  their  time  in  publicly 
denying  them  before  a  congregation  that  tenaciously  held 
them. 

(3)  She  was  a  m//o/ia/ Church.  Though  not  Rational- 
istic, she  was  rational,  that  is,  she  aimed  to  satisfy  the 
reason.  While  the  Lutheran  Church  tended  toward  mys- 
ticism, as  in  the  sacraments,  she  inclined  toward  a  rational 
solution  of  the  mysteries.  And  since  she  thus  aimed  to 
satisfy  the  reason,  there  was  less  cause  within  her  for  a 
reaction  from  her  doctrines  into  Rationalism.  Gass  says  : 
^^  The  Reformed  Church  needed  less  the  freeing  from 
Rationalism  in  theology,  it  was  already  more  rationally 
arranged  and  more  sharply  stated." 


428  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

(4)  And  yet,  ^A'hile  a  rational  Church,  she  was  an 
experimental  Church,  that  is,  she  emphasized  experience. 
Ebrard  says  :  ^'  She  was  the  Church  of  the  believing  con- 
gregation.'' She  aimed  to  satisfy  the  heart,  as  well  as 
the  head,  and  in  doing  so  set  the  heart  as  a  counterpoise, 
which  checked  the  reason  from  asserting  too  much 
authority. 

For  these  reasons  Rationalism  entered  into  her  more 
slowly  and  exerted  less  control.  Ebrard  calls  attention 
to  the  fact  that  Rationalism  had  scarcely  a  single  repre- 
sentative among  Reformed  dogmaticians.  Stosch  at 
Frankford  on  the  Oder,  Mursinna  at  Halle,  Grimm  at 
Duisburg  and  Munscher  and  Robert  at  Marburg  being 
the  most  prominent  examples.  And  he  also  says  that 
many  Reformed  congregations,  especially  in  the  Northern 
Rhine,  would  not  permit  a  Rationalist  to  enter  their 
pulpits. 

Rationalism  gradually  gained  power  over  the  masses, 

until  the  people 

*'  Were  blinded  with  doubt, 
In  wildering  mazes  lost." 

Then  there  arose  two  classes  of  opponents,  Supranatu- 
ralists  and  the  supernatural  Rationalists.  The  Supra- 
naturalists  emphasized  the  need  of  a  special  revelation 
through  the  Bible,  and  hence  they  were  strong  adherents 
of  the  Scrijitures,  and  their  replies  were  mainly  biblical. 
The  supernatural  Rationalists   made  some  concessions  to 


zollikofer's  eloquence.  429 

the  Rationalists,  and  their  replies  were  more  inclined  to 
be  philosophical  than  biblical.  Yet  there  were  all  shades 
of  supernatural  Rationalists,  from  those  almost  orthodox, 
to  those  almost  rationalistic. 

We  might  perhaps  take  Zollikofer  as  a  representative 
of  the  supernatural  Rationalists,  although  he  inclines 
toward  the  Rationalists.  He  was  one  of  the  most  famous 
pulpit  orators  of  his  day,  and  was  called  ^^  the  Demos- 
thenes of  the  eighteenth  century."  He  was  a  Swiss  by 
birth,  but  was  educated  at  Bremen  and  Utrecht,  where  he 
gave  more  attention  to  literature  than  to  theology.  He 
returned  to  Switzerland,  but  the  plain  Swiss  failed  to 
appreciate  his  brilliant  rhetoric.  So  when  he  was  called 
to  Leipsic  in  1758,  he  accepted  the  call  and  :was  pastor 
there  for  thirty  years.  Here  he  gained  his  fame,  and 
brought  that  small  unknown  congregation  in  an  ultra 
Lutheran  land  into  prominence.  His  congregation  was 
composed  of  intelligent  merchants,  while  the  city  was  full 
of  ridicule  of  religion.  He  endeavored,  without  giving 
offence  to  the  Rationalists,  to  call  their  attention  to  higher 
things.  He  tried  to  av/aken  in  his  hearers  an  apprecia- 
tion of  what  was  noble  in  their  nature,  that  they  might 
develop  it.  His  sermons  (published  after  his  death  in 
fifteen  volumes)  were  mainly  moral  addresses,  with  a  text 
for  a  motto.  Especially  were  his  Reformation  Day 
addresses  eloquent.  They  were  on  such  topics  as  peace 
and  tolerance.    At  other  times  he  would  preach  on  friend- 


430  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

ship,  and  education,  and  social  life.  But  in  doing  this,  he 
sacrificed  some  of  the  fundamental  positions  of  the 
Reformed.  For  twenty  years,  he  said,  he  forgot  that  he 
was  Reformed,  so  as  to  remind  himself  that  he  was  a 
Christian.  He  was  not  clear  in  his  statements  of  the 
relation  of  the  Son  to  the  Father  in  the  Trinity,  and  he 
held  that  the  death  of  Christ  was  not  so  much  a  vicarious 
atonement,  as  a  pledge  of  God^s  willingness  to  pardon. 
Over  against  the  Pietists  he  held  that  conversion  was  not 
necessary,  for  virtuous  people  needed  only  a  reformation. 
He  thus  made  nlany  concessions  to  Rationalism.  On  his 
tomb  his  epitaph  fittingly  represents  him  as  conversing 
in  heaven  with  Jesus  and  Socrates.  And  yet  there  was  a 
suggestiveness,  as  well  as  an  unction  in  the  eloquence  of 
his  sermons  that  made  them  helpful.  He  was  not  a 
Rationalist,  for  Christ's  resurrection,  ascension  and  eter- 
nal glory  were  to  him  positive  facts.  He  compiled  a 
popular  hymn  book,  wliich  introduced  later  hymns  into  it, 
in  addition  to  the  Psalms,  and  it  had  a  large  circulation. 
He  wrote  several  hymns,  of  which  "  Der  du  das  Dasein 
mir  gegeben"  is  the  best.  "As  a  preacher  he  ranked 
with  Reinhardt,  though  superior  to  him,  both  as  an 
expositor  and  in  definite  aim  and  joyous  fervor.'' 

F.  S.  G.  Sack,  the  son  of  the  court  preacher  of  Fred- 
erick the  Great,  was  also  a  supernatural  Rationalist.  He 
waa  educated  at  Frankford  on  the  Oder,  and  then  traveled 
through  England.     After  a  pastorate  at  Magdeburg,  he 


COURT  PREACHER  SACK.  431 

was  called  to  Berlin.  He  was  appointed  court  preacher 
there,  but,  owing  to  dizziness,  was  not  able  to  preach  very 
much  for  a  long  while.  He,  therefore,  transferred  his 
labors  mainly  to  education.  During  the  sad  years, 
1806-13,  he  greatly  strengthened  the  King  and  his  con- 
gregation by  a  series  of  pamphlets,  and  in  1816  the  King 
made  him,  with  the  Lutheran  superintendent  Borowski,  a 
bishop,  and  gave  him  the  degree  of  the  Red  Eagle.  He 
was  an  independent  thinker.  The  nobility  of  man's 
nature,  to  which  grace  joined  itself,  became  so  prominent, 
that  conversion  and  justification  were  put  into  the  back- 
ground. He  was  a  better  teacher  and  catechist  than  a 
preacher.  There  he  especially  revealed  precision  of 
thought,  with  earnestness  and  friendliness  to  the  catechu- 
mens, which  gave  him  great  power  over  them.  He,  how- 
ever, although  concessive  to  Rationalism,  bitterly  opposed 
the  bold  Rationalism  of  Bahrdt,  and  as  the  new  Panthe- 
ism came  up,  he  became  more  conservative,  and  opposed 
it.     He  died  October  2,  1817. 

Of  the  second  class  of  opponents  to  the  Rationalists, 
the  Supranaturalists,  Av^ho  looked  on  Rationalism  as  evil 
and  only  evil,  Ave  might  mention  Gottfried  Menken  as  an 
example.  He  AA^as  a  descendent  of  Lampe,  the  famous 
theologian,  and  AA-as  born  at  Bremen,  May  29,  1768.  He 
was  naturally  of  a  mystical  tendency.  He  attended  the 
uni\^ersity  at  Jena  in  1788.  In  that  hot-bed  of  Rational- 
ism he  was  troubled  with  doubts,  although  he  clung  to  the 


432  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

old  faith.  On  one  occasion  he  prayed  :  ^'  Dost  thou 
exist,  Lord  God,  and  is  the  Bible  thy  work  ?  then  bless 
thou  my  search,  that  I  may  be  sure  of  thee  and  thy  Word. 
If  thou  wilt  hear  me,  my  whole  life  shall  be  consecrated 
to  thy  service.''  He  found  comfort  and  guidance  only  in 
the  Bible  and  Boehme's  works.  He  finally  became  so 
disgusted  with  the  prevailing  Rationalism,  that  the  only 
professor,  whose  lectures  he  would  attend,  was  Griesbach, 
on  Church  history.  He  remained  away  from  the  others, 
"  because,"  he  said,  "  he  did  not  want  to  bow  the  knee  to 
philosophy."  He  spent  his  time  in  reading  the  Bible, 
saying  :  "  My  reading  begins  with  Moses,  and  ends  with 
John."  He  said  he  was  willing  to  be  a  "  Christian  idiot," 
rather  than  believe  such  philosophy.  Gradually  he  came 
more  and  more  out  of  his  mysticism  into  the  clear  light 
of  grace.  In  1790  he  w^ent  to  the  university  of  Duisburg, 
whither  he  was  drawn  because  Lampe  had  preached 
there,  and  one  of  its  professors.  Berg,  was  from  Bremen. 
But  he  found  Rationalism  there  too.  However  he  felt 
more  at  home,  as  he  became  acquainted  with  the  leading 
Pietistic  Reformed  there,  as  Achelis,  the  judge,  and  Rec- 
tor Hasenkamp.  He  also  visited  the  Wupperthal,  and 
was  greatly  encouraged  at  the  religious  life  he  found 
there.  He  was  licensed  1791,  and  as  a  licentiate  preached 
at  St.  Remberti  church,  Bremen,  with  such  great  success, 
that  the  people  streamed  to  tlie  house  of  his  father  after 
service  to  congratulate  him  on  the  propitious  future  of  his 


GOTTFRIED    MENKEN.  433 

son.  He  returned  to  Duisburg  and  attacked  Professor 
Grimm,  who  by  a  work  on  demonologv,  had  said  that  the 
devil  was  a  myth.  This  created  a  great  sensation.  The 
students  annoyed  him  so  much  that  he  was  glad  to  leave 
Duisburg  and  accept  a  call  as  assistant  pastor  at  Uedam 
near  Cleve  in  the  same  region  where  his  ancestor,  Lampe, 
had  begun  his  ministry.  Here  he  became  acquainted  with 
Collenbusch  and  came  under  the  influence  of  Collenbusch's 
views  which  he  systematized.  In  1794  he  became  assist- 
ant to  J.  C.  Krafl't,  pastor  of  the  Reformed  church  at 
Frankford,  where  he  exerted  a  spiritual  influence  on  the 
rich  merchants  who  made  up  the  congregation.  Krafl't 
died  very  suddenly  in  his  arms  as  he  was  rising  from  a 
meal  to  ofler  prayer.  Menken  was  so  moved  by  his  sud- 
den death,  that  he  took  for  his  motto  ^^  sursum  corda." 
He  was  called  to  Wetzlar  in  1796,  and  there  published 
another  work  against  the  Rationalists,  entitled,  ''The 
Happiness  and  Victory  of  the  Godless."  He  also  began 
publishing  his  series  of  homilies.  In  them  he  reveals  his 
style  of  preaching  as  Biblical  and  analytical,  for  he  was 
opposed  to  the  synthetic  method  of  taking  a  text  merely 
as  a  motto.  He  wanted  to  preach  the  words  of  the  Bible 
and  nothing  else.  His  style  of  preaching  was  described 
as  "  of  the  Bible,  out  of  the  Bible,  and  according  to  the 
Bible."  Through  these  published  sermons  he  gained  a 
wide  reputation,  and  was  called  in  1602  to  St.  Martin's 
church  in  Bremen. 


434  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Bremen  has  over  one  of  its  gates  the  inscription, 
"  Lord,  preserve  the  asyhim  of  thy  church/'  and  it  had 
been  the  asylum  of  God's  saints  when  they  fled  from  per- 
secution. But  Menken  declared  that  it  had  become  the 
asylum  of  Rationalism.  Of  course  the  Rationalists  bit- 
terly opposed  his  coming,  but  he  boldly  bore  his  testi- 
mony against  them.  He  has  been  called,  ^^  the  Elijah  of 
Bremen."  His  colleague.  Mallet,  called  him  the  best 
preacher  in  Germany.  He  wanted  to  preach  ^'  the  Word, 
the  whole  Word  and  nothing  but  the  Word."  He  drew 
large  audiences  and  exerted  a  wnde  influence,  but  his  pub- 
lished works  gave  him  still  greater  fame.  He  was  very 
severe  in  all  polemics  against  Rationalists.  He  could  see 
nothing  but  evil  in  philosophy,  which  was  at  the  basis  of 
their  vieAVS.  He  called  Kant  the  most  destructive  of  men, 
and  in  his  intensity  he  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  even 
Lavater  and  Stilling  were  influenced  by  Satan.  His 
intense  opposition  to  Rationalism  led  him  to  the  opposite 
extreme.  He  held  that  those  who  defended  orthodoxy 
against  Rationalism,  had  been  so  much  occupied  with 
defending  the  divinity  of  Christ,  that  they  had  forgotten 
his  humanity.  He  therefore  made  Christ's  humanity 
prominent,  and  held  that  the  Son  took  human  nature,  not 
as  it  came  from  God  before  the  fall ;  but  that  the  Son,  in 
order  to  be  a  true  man,  took  sinful  nature  as  it  was  after 
the  fall,  in  other  words,  that  he  took  sinful  humanity  unto 
Himself.      His  mission  as  Redeemer  was   to  make   the 


435 


whole  lump  of  humanity  holy,  by  sanctifying  the  part  He 
assumed.  This  He  did  by  struggle  and  suffering,  until  at 
death,  when  He  had  completely  annihilated  depravity.* 
Christ  saved  us  therefore  by  His  subjective  atonement, 
rather  than  by  His  objective  atonement  on  the  cross. f 
This  view,  however,  contradicts  Luke  1  :  35,  where  the 
humanity  at  Christ's  birth  is  spoken  of  as  "  that  holy 
thing.''  The  general  trend  of  his  theology  was  Biblical 
rather  than  philosophical  or  confessional.  He  was  simply 
Evangelical  rather  than  Reformed  in  doctrine,  for  he 
opposed  predestination.  He  died  at  Bremen,  June  1, 
1831. 

"-■•  Notwithstanding  His  possession  of  this  depraved  nature,  Christ  through 
the  power  of  His  divinity,  not  only  kept  His  human  nature  from  manifesting 
itself  in  sin,  but  gradually  purified  it  through  struggle  and  suffering,  until  at 
death  He  had  extirpated  its  original  depravity  and  redeemed  it  to  God. 

f  This  view  has  been  called  "  redemption  by  sample,"  and  was  held  by 
Edward  Irving  of  England, 


*  CHAPTER  III.— SECTION  11. 
OPPOSITION  IN  THE  SYNODS. 
The  only  Reformed  General  Synod  of  Germany,  the 
General  Synod  of  Julich,  Cleve,  Berg  and  Mark,  protested 
against  Rationalism  most  vigorously.  It  had  always 
watched  with  considerable  anxiety,  the  orthodoxy  of  the 
university  of  Duisburg,  which  was  located  in  its  midst. 
In  1677  it  summoned  Professor  Von  Maestrich,  and 
in  1719  Professor  Raab,  to  appear  before  it  for 
departures  from  orthodoxy.  In  1778  this  General 
Synod  took  direct  action  against  Rationalism.  It  said 
that  "  it  looked  with  sorrow,  because  in  various  parts  of 
Germany  there  were  grave  departures  from  the  funda- 
mental doctrines  of  the  faith."  It  ordered  the  Reformed 
ministers  to  watch  against  these  dangerous  errors,  and  by 
preaching  and  catechization  to  indoctrinate  their  people 
against  them.  It  also  ordered  the  inspectors  of  the  various 
Classes  to  inquire  into  the  orthodoxy  of  the  ministers  and 
school  teachers,  and  to  see  that  at  the  examinations  ortho- 
doxy be  insisted  upon.  The  General  Synod  of  1 784  ordered 
that  they  should  be  very  careful  about  the  books  that 
came  into  their  congregations.  These  actions  were  echoed 
by  the  Synods  and  the  Classes  again  and  again.     When 


THE   SYNOD    AND    RATIONALISM.  437 

the  new  hymn  book  was  ordered  to  be  introduced  by  the 
General  Synod  in  1736,  the  Berg  Synod  opposed  it  for 
two  years,  because  they  were  afraid  lest  through  it  Ration- 
alism might  enter  their  churches,  as  had  been  done  by  so 
many  rationalistic  hymn  books  in  other  places.  And 
when  the  later  hymn  book  was  ordered  to  be  introduced 
in  1773,  it  was  very  slowly  introduced  into  Berg  (and  not 
into  Elberfeld  until  1805)  because  of  this  fear  of  Ration- 
alism. Some  parts  of  the  Northern  Rhine  region,  as  Berg 
and  Tecklenburg,  have  had  no  rationalistic  pastors,  because 
the  people  would  not  have  them.  Very  few  districts  in 
Germany  can  say  as  much  as  that. 


CHAPTER  III.— SECTION  III. 

THE  OPPOSITION  TO  RATIONALISM  IN  REFORMED  UNI- 
VERSITIES. 

It  was  in  the  universities  that  Rationalism  had  its 
birth,  and  there  it  found  its  home.  What  was  the  atti- 
tude of  the  Reformed  universities  toward  it  ?  There  were 
in  the  main  five  universities  that  were  Reformed — Mar- 
burg, Herborn,  Duisburg,  Frankford  on  the  Oder,  and 

Heidelberg. 

Marburg. 

This  university  was  probably  the  largest  and  most 
important  of  the  Reformed  universities  since  Heidelberg 
had  lost  its  prosperity  and  influence  under  its  Romish 
rulers.  When  Wolff  came  to  it  from  Halle,  it  took  its 
stand  against  Rationalism,  for  his  coming  was  bitterly 
opposed  by  the  theological  faculty.  During  his  stay  there, 
his  teachings  were  strongly  opposed  by  the  great  Kirch- 
meyer  (J.  Christian)  and  G.  Lewis  Christian  Mieg.  At 
the  second  jubilee  of  the  university,  August  14,  1727, 
Kirchmeyer  published  a  work  in  which  he  declared  that 
the  Hessian  Church  must  hold  fast  to  the  old  doctrines  of 
Franz  Lambert,  Hesse's  first  Reformer.  Kirchmeyer's 
successor  was  Daniel  Wyttenbach,  a  Swiss.     He  has  been 


UNIVEKSITY    OF    I^tARBUEG.  439 

called  a  Wolfian,  because  he  gave  natural  theology  a  larger 
place  in  this  Dogmatics ;  but  he  still  held  to  the  Federal 
theology,  although  he  opposes  Supralapsarianism.  He 
was  a  supernaturalist.  ^^  He  uses  the  scientific,  mathe- 
matical method  of  Wolff  to  sustain  the  doctrines  of  his 
Church  against  skepticism."  He  thus  succeeded  in 
retaining  most  of  the  future  teachers  of  Hesse  for  ortho- 
doxy. But  Robert,  a  later  colleague  of  his,  was  a  Ration- 
alist. Robert  declared  that  there  would  be  no  quiet  in 
the  theoloocical  world  as  long;  as  the  Churches  held  to  their 
creeds,  and  he  wanted  them  put  away.  But  his  wish 
brought  forth  no  result,  except  to  himself,  for  he,  to  the 
surprise  of  all,  retired  from  his  professorship  of  theology 
and  entered  the  law  department  of  the  university  as  pro- 
fessor. After  Wyttenbach  came  Samuel  Endeman  in 
1782.  Durins:  his  time  the  new  rationalism  of  Kant 
appeared,  against  which  he  labored  as  Kirchmeyer  had 
against  AVolff's  Rationalism.  This  new  Rationalism  was 
introduced  into  the  philosophical  faculty  of  the  university 
by  Bering  in  1788,  and  by  Charles  Daub,  who  taught  it, 
1789-94,  with  great  power,  and  by  William  Munscher, 
professor  of  Church  history  (1792).  The  faculty  now 
began  to  change  toward  Rationalism.  And  yet  in  it 
there  still  remained  the  leading  professor  of  theology, 
Albert  J.  Arnoldi,  a  man  of  great  learning  but  more  of 
an  exegete  than  a  dogmatician.  He  bitterly  opposed  Pau- 
lus,   as    his  predecessors  had    opposed  Wolff  and  Kant. 


440  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Kantianism,  however,  began  to  permeate  the  Hessian 
Church.  The  fourth  centennary  of  the  university  and  of 
the  reformation  (1817)  brought  new  life  into  the  old 
Church,  and  with  1830  a  new  era  dawned  on  the  univer- 
sity, as  Julius  Muller,  Vilmar  and  Heppe  aided  in  the 
revival  of  piety.  This  university  so  early  placed,  in  spite 
of  its  protests,  in  contact  with  Rationalism  of  Wolff,  has 
revealed  a  noble  list  of  brave  defenders  of  the  old  faith  in 
Kirchmeyer,  Wyttenbach,  Endemann  and  Arnoldi,   and 

the  later  professors. 

Duisburg. 

This  university  was  from  its  beginning  more  inclined 
to  freedom  of  thought  than  the  others.  Thus  when  Car- 
tesianism  was  driven  out  of  the  university  of  Herborn  as 
being  heterodox,  and  when  it  was  forbidden  at  Marburg, 
it  found  a  home  here.  The  first  rector,  Clauberg,  was  a 
Cartesian,  although  holding  to  the  Federal  theology. 
But  as  Cocceianism  gained  the  ascendency  more  and  more 
in  the  Reformed  Church,  this  university  Avas  less  and  less 
suspected  of  heterodoxy,  and  was  considered  quite  ortho- 
dox. It  was  located  in  the  midst  of  the  most  orthodox 
part  of  the  Reformed  Church,  the  northern  Rhine,  whose 
Synod  watched  over  its  orthodoxy  with,  great  concern. 
And  yet  there  was  a  sign  of  Rationalism  in  Duisburg 
long  before  Wolff.  For  as  early  as  1688  Professor  Hol- 
sius  had  published  a  book  advocating  the  right  of  reason 
to  prove  the  Scriptures,  and  declaring  theology   to  be  the 


THE    UNIVERSITY    OF    FRANKFORD.  441 

handmaid  of  reason,  whereas  the  opposite  is  the  truth. 
But  owing  to  its  surroundings,  this  university  remained 
orthodox  until  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
when  Rationalism  came  in  and  gained  power  until  all  its 
professors  were  rationalists,  except  Berg.  Grimm  was  a 
blatant  rationalist  and  Moller  was  a  Kantian.  But  Bero-'s 
beautiful  Christian  character  and  his  great  learning  in  the 
Semitic  languages  were  a  mighty  tower  of  strength  for  the 
old  faith.  He  was  succeeded  by  F.  A.  Krummacher,  who 
was  orthodox.  Thus  this  university  bore  its  testimony 
for  well  nigh  a  century,  until  at  last  it  almost  succumbed 
to  Rationalism. 

Frankford  on  the  Oder. 

We  have  been  able  to  gain  very  little  information 
about  this  university.  It  is  altogether  likely  that  as  it 
was  situated  near  Berlin,  it  was  in  close  sympathy  with 
the  court  and  felt  its  influence  for  or  against  Rationalism. 
Of  its  professors  we  find  only  Stosch  noticed  as  a  Wolfian. 
We  presume,  therefore,  the  most  of  them  were  orthodox. 
Sack,  the  son  of  Frederick  the  Great's  court  preacher, 
was  a  supernatural  rationalist.  But  Rationalism  had 
strong  opponents,  as  in  Noltenius,  who  once  said  ''the 
court  congregation  would  be  the  last  to  clean  out  the  old 
leaven.''  Frankford  was  only  a  small  university,  and 
the  Reformed  were  few  in  Eastern  Germany.  So  its 
importance  was  therefore  small. 
29 


442  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

Herborn. 

This  university  felt  the  influence  of  Rationalism  less 
than  any  other  in  the  Reformed  Church.  It  early  showed 
its  position,  as  Prof  Melchior  attacked  Spinoza's  positions 
in  a  tract  in  1672.  Two  influences  tended  to  cause  this. 
One  was  because  it  was  surrounded  by  such  a  strongly 
Pietistic  neighborhood.  The  other  was  due  to  its  close  con- 
nection w^ith  Holland.  And  as  Holland  remained  orthodox 
long  after  Germauy,  this  university  sympathized  with  the 
Dutch  orthodoxy.  As  a  result  of  these  two  influences  Ave 
have  failed  to  find  a  single  rationalist  mentioned  in  its 
history.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  spoken  of  as  the  only 
Reformed  university  to  which  a  student  could  be  sent  in 
the  days  of  Rationalism  without  fear  of  being  corrupted 
by  doubt.  Its  professors,  therefore,  must  have  borne  a 
steady  witness  for  the  truth.  However  it  was  a  small 
university,  and  its  influence  was  therefore  somewhat  small. 

Heidelberg. 

This  university  during  the  eighteenth  century  had 
lost  its  prestige.  The  glory  it  had  had  in  the  preceding 
centuries  had  departed,  and  it  was  only  a  shadow  of  its 
former  self.  Gradually  the  Romish  Elector,  supported 
by  the  Jesuits,  weakened  its  influence.  A  Romish  faculty 
was  added  to  the  Reformed.  Then  the  Reformed  pastors  at 
Heidelberg  were  made  professors  of  theology  in  it.  Often 
a  professorship  would  be  left  vacant.    There  were  not  more 


HEIDELBERG    UNIVERSITY.  443 

than  two  or  three  theological  professors  at  a  time.  The 
university  had  to  struggle  for  existence.  The  number  of 
its  students  was  small,  and  its  struggle  was  against 
Romanism  rather  than  Rationalism.  Still  some  of  its 
theological  students  went  from  the  Palatinate  to  the 
rationalistic  universities  of  North  Germany,  as  Jena  and 
Halle.  They  brought  back  with  them  the  rationalistic 
leaven.  This  finding  no  barrier  (for  the  Reformed  were 
almost  crushed  by  their  persecutions)  spread  far  and  wide. 
It  crept  into  the  university  through  Professor  J.  F.  Mieg, 
the  most  influential  minister  of  the  Palatinate  in  his  day. 
His  hymn  book  issued  1785  reveals  a  spirit  most  directly 
opposed  to  the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  Then  came  the 
tendency  in  the  Palatinate  to  put  away  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism  and  substitute  others.  Thus  a  book  entitled 
^'  Guide  to  Religious  Instruction  for  Children  of  Tender 
Age,''  by  Amadeus  Bohme  (1790)  came  into  general  use 
in  the  catechetical  classes.  Its  character  can  be  seeu  in 
its  first  answer,  ''  What  is  God  V  Answer,  "  The  first 
cause  of  all  things.''  Compare  this  with  the  warm  com- 
forting first  answer  of  the  Heidelberg,  and  one  can  easily 
see  the  difference.  It  was  a  weak,  spiritless  compilation, 
and  not  a  book  of  solid  power  and  blessed  comfort  like  the 
Heidelberg.  One  man,  however,  is  to  be  named  as  a 
staunch  defender  of  orthodoxy.  Professor  J.  F.  Abegg. 
He  was  one  of  the  most  godly  men  of  his  age.  To  him 
the  Heidelberg  Catechism  was  a  mine  of  spiritual  truth. 


444  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

The  spirituality  of  his  character,  his  great  Biblical  lore 
niade  him  a  great  blessing  to  the  university.  He  became 
professor  of  philology  at  Heidelberg  in  1789,  in  1800 
pastor  of  St.  Peter's  church,  and  1819  professor  of  practi- 
cal theology.  He  was  a  fine  preacher  and  full  of  unction, 
especially  in  his  confirmation  sermons.  He  was  a  fine 
exegete  and  a  great  admirer  of  the  old  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism. But  above  all  his  learning  was  the  religious 
personality  of  his  character.  He  was  the  artist  of  the 
inner  life,  and  gave  the  best  possible  answer  to  Rational- 
ism— a  holy  life.  Charles  Daub,  the  brilliant  philosopher, 
came  to  Heidelberg  in  1795,  but  although  he  aimed  to 
answer  the  Rationalists,  his  views  were  so  full  of  conces- 
sions to  them,  that  he  constantly  appears  vacillating.  He 
was  followed  by  Ullman,  w^ho  remained  a  tower  of  strength 
for  orthodoxy.  He  was  succeeded  by  Schenkel,  who 
betrayed  his  trust.  For  he  was  elected  from  Switzerland 
as  a  representative  of  orthodoxy,  but  Avent  over  into  the 
camp  of  the  enemy  and  carried  the  university  with  him. 
Still  in  the  days  of  Ullman  and  after,  the  university  was 
no  longer  Reformed,  but  union. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

INDIYIDUAL  ANSWERS  TO  RATIONALISM   ON 
THE  NORTHERN  RHINE. 

The  Reformed  Church  bore  her  witness  for  the  truth 
not  merely  through  her  official  representatives,  as  the 
Synods  and  universities,  but  also  through  individuals, 
whose  voices  were  lifted  up  against  the  errors  of  Ration- 
alism. It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  Pietism  died  out 
as  Rationalism  came  in.  It  had  fastened  itself  too  deeply 
into  the  heart  and  history  of  the  Reformed  Church  to  die 
out.  It  stood  as  the  best  answer  to  Rationalism.  We 
have  time  to  refer  to  only  a  few  of  the  most  prominent, 
whom  the  rationalists  delighted  to  call  Pietists,  because 
they  held  to  the  old  faith.  There  were  many  others. 
They  not  merely  met  Rationalism  by  books  and  argu- 
ments, but  by  the  better  answer  of  an  active  Christianity. 
"  The  best  apologetics  is  energetics.''  The  logic  of  true 
Christian  lives  or  the  results  of  an  active  Christian  Church 
Rationalism  is  powerless  to  answer,  because  it  cannot  pro- 
duce as  great  results.  Oberlin's  labors  at  Kornthal  and 
Wichern's  at  the  Rauhe  Haus  at  Hamburg  (both  of  them 
Lutherans)  were  better  answers  to  skepticism  than  any 
others.     The  Reformed  had  many  such  witnesses.     They 


446  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

not  merely  answered  Rationalism  with  arguments,  but 
they  also  developed  Christian  characters,  living  churches 
and  active  philanthropies.  Sneered  at  as  Pietists  by  the 
rationalists,  their  name  of  derision  became  a  badge  of 
honor.  Some  of  them  opposed  Rationalism  by  books,  as 
Stilling  and  Menken ;  others  by  revivals,  as  Tersteegen 
and  G.  D.  Krummacher  ;  others  by  practical  organiza- 
tions, as  Mallet ;  but  all  labored  to  oiFset  Rationalism  by 
practical,  experimental  Christianity. 

There  is  an  important  fact  to  be  noticed  in  regard  to 
their  opposition.  It  is  significant  that  the  two  places  in 
the  Reformed  Church  that  came  into  greatest  prominence 
in  Pietism,  are  the  two  that  are  most  prominent  in  their 
opposition  to  Rationalism.  It  has  been  charged  against 
Pietism  that  Rationalism  was  due  to  the  one-sided,  narrow 
development  of  Pietism  by  emphasizing  feeling  and  for- 
getting the  intellect.  If  this  be  true,  then  we  ask  :  Why 
was  it  that  the  most  Pietistic  districts  in  Germany  were 
the  most  prominent  in  resisting  Rationalism  ?  If,  according 
to  this  V  ew,  Pietism  were  responsible  for  the  reaction  into 
Rationalism,  these  should  have  been  the  most  rationalistic, 
whereas  just  the  contrary  is  the  truth.  No,  Bishop  Hurst 
is  right  when  he  says  in  his  History  of  Rationalism  that 
"  it  was  Pietism  that  saved  Germany  in  the  midst  of  the 
Rationalism.''  But  for  Pietism,  German  Christianity 
would  have  been  overwhelmed  by  the  flood  of  unbelief, 
and  Germany,  instead  of  France,  would  have  had  a  revo- 


GERHARD   TERSTEEGEN.  447 

lutioD.  If  Pietism  saved  Germany,  let  us  honor  Pietism 
for  it.  This  fact  is  true  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  as  well 
as  of  the  Reformed.  For  Wurtemberg,  the  most  strongly 
Pietistic  land  of  Lutheranism,  was  the  slowest  to  yield  to 
Rationalism.  And  in  the  Reformed  Church  the  tAvo  dis- 
tricts most  prominent  in  Pietism  were  the  strongest  to 
oppose  Rationalism.  They  were  the  Northern  Rhine  and 
Bremen.  Pietism,  therefore,  did  not  cause  Rationalism. 
Worldliness  and  laxity  of  doctrine  caused  it.  Pietism 
prepared   Germany    for,   and    saved   her  in,   the  age   of 

Rationalism. 

SECTION  I. 

GERHARD  TERSTEEGEN. 

He  was  born  November  25,  1697,  at  Meurs.  His 
name  meant  in  high  German  "  Zur  Stiege,''  "  to  a  stair.'^ 
His  life  was  truly  a  stairway — a  Jacob's  ladder — to 
heaven.  His  father  was  a  merchant,  but  died  when  Ger- 
hard was  only  six  years  old.  But  his  heavenly  Father 
took  his  earthly  father's  place  in  his  affections.  His 
mother  sent  him  to  the  Latin  school  at  Meurs.  He 
studied  Hebrew,  Greek  and  Latin,  and  early  revealed  the 
great  linguistic  talents,  which  enabled  him  afterward  to 
become  the  translator  of  so  many  works.  On  a  public 
occasion  he  delivered  a  Latin  oration  with  such  success, 
that  one  of  the  chief  magistrates  advised  his  mother  to 
send  him  to  the  university.  This  she  declined,  as  she 
felt  she  had  not  the  means.     As  the  city  would  not  edu- 


448  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

cate  her  son,  she  gave  this  up.  God,  however,  did  not 
give  it  up,  but  made  him  a  lay  minister,  preaching  per- 
haps to  more  souls  than  any  jninister  of  his  time. 

So  at  the  age  of  fifteen  he  was  bound  as  an  apprentice 
for  four  years  to  his  brother-in-law,  Matthew  Brink,  a 
merchant  at  Miihlheim  on  the  Ruhr,  which  was  about 
nine  miles  distant  from  Meurs.  Brink  was  a  practical 
business  man,  who  had  jio  sympathy  for  books  or  poetry, 
and  proved  to  be  a  hard  master  to  so  studious  a  boy.  It 
is  said  that  when  Tersteegen  wanted  to  study.  Brink 
would  make  him  roll  empty  barrels  in  the  yard,  so  as  to 
break  up  his  love  for  study,  saying,  "  he  that  Avill  serve 
the  world,  must  serve  her  altogether."  But,  although 
Tersteegen  had  such  difficulties,  he  was  fortunate  in  hav- 
ing his  lot  cast  in  Miihlheim,  a  place  so  full  of  Pietism. 
For  Untereyck's  prayer  meetings,  held  fifty  years  before, 
had  left  their  impress  on  the  community,  and  since 
that  time  had  become  common.  During  his  first  year 
there  he  became  awakened,  and  underwent  severe  strug- 
gles, even  spending  w^hole  nights  in  prayer  and  Bible 
reading,  before  he  surrendered  himself  entirely  to  God. 
For  Hoffman,  a  candidate  of  theology  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  had  been  holding  prayer  meetings  there  since 
1710  on  Thursdays,  to  which  Tersteegen  was  led  by  a 
pious  tradesman.  He  finally  found  peace  in  Christ  in 
1717.  This  peace  continued  in  his  soul  for  about  two 
years,  when  in  1719  the  reading  of  Boehme's  writings  cast 


449 


him  again  into  a  state  of  anxiety.  In  this  condition  he 
continued  for  five  years.  He  describes  his  condition  in 
the  hymn  "  In  Great  Inward  Distress  :'' 

Jesus,  pitying  Savior,  hear  me, 

Draw  Thou  near  me, 

Turn  Thee,  Lord,  in  grace  to  me  ; 

For  Thou  seest  all  my  sorrow. 

Night  and  morrow 

Doth  my  cry  go  up  to  Thee. 

Lost  in  darkness,  girt  with  dangers. 

Round  me  straugers. 

Through  an  alien  land  I  roam  ; 

Outward  trials,  bitter  losses. 

Inward  crosses, 

Lord,  thou  knowest,  have  sought  me  home. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  struggles  he  was  always  greatly 
strengthened  by  his  attendance  on  the  prayer  meetings. 
He  was  on  one  occasion  traveling  along  the  road  from 
Miihlheim  to  Duisburg,  when  he  was  seized  with  a  severe 
attack  of  colic,  so  that  he  expected  he  would  die.  He 
turned  aside  into  the  forest,  and  earnestly  prayed  that 
the  Lord  would  spare  his  life,  so  that  he  might  prepare 
for  eternity.  Suddenly  the  pain  left  him,  and  he  felt 
himself  impelled  to  devote  himself  unreservedly  to  the 
Lord,  who  was  so  good  to  him.  This  period  of  spiritual 
eclipse  ended  on  Thursday  before  Easter.  Then,  like 
Marquis  DeRenty  before  him  and  Zollinger  after  him,  he 
wrote  his  dedication  to  Christ  in  his  own  blood,  as 
follows  :* 

*  Doddridge,  in  his  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Soul,   proposes   different  for- 
mulas for  such  subscription. 


450  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

^^ My  Jesus: 

Under  hand  and  seal,  I  dedicate  myself  to  Thee,  my 
own  Savior  and  Bridegroom,  to  be  Thy  full  and  eternal 
possession.  From  this  night  on  I  give  up  with  all  my 
heart  all  right  and  power  that  Satan  may  have  given  me 
with  unrighteousness.  For  this.  You,  my  blood  Bride- 
groom, my  Redeemer,  through  Thy  death,  wrestling  and 
bloody  sweat  in  Gethsemane's  garden,  bought  me  to  be 
Thy  property  and  Bride,  burst  the  gates  of  death,  and 
opened  the  heart  of  Thy  Father,  so  full  of  love  to  me. 
From  this  night  is  my  heart  and  entire  love  forever  given 
and  sacrificed  to  Thee  as  a  due  thank-oifering.  Thy  will, 
not  mine,  be  done  from  now  on  and  in  eternity.  Com- 
mand, control  and  rule  in  me.  I  give  Thee  full  power 
over  me  and  promise  with  Thy  help  and  assistance  rather 
to  suffer  this  my  blood  to  be  poured  out  to  its  last  drop, 
than  in  will  and  knowledge  internally  or  externally  to  be 
untrue  or  disobedient  to  Thee.  Behold,  I  am  entirely  in 
Thy  possession,  thou  sweet  Friend  of  my  Soul,  so  that  in 
pure  love  I  may  cling  to  Thee  forever.  Let  not  Thy 
Holy  Spirit  depart  from  me,  and  may  Thy  death  struggle 
support  me.  Yes,  Amen.  Thy  Spirit  seal  what  is  writ- 
ten in  simplicity.  Thine  unworthy  friend, 

G.  T. 

On  Green  Thursday  evening,  1724,  A.  D." 

It  was  at  this  time  that  he  wrote  the   hymn,  "  Wie 

bist  du   mir  so  innig  gut,"  (My  great   high  priest,  how 

kind  thy  love.)     He  used  to  express  his  experience  in  the 

words  of  Augustine : 

My  heart  is  pained  nor  can  it  be 
At  rest  till  it  find  rest  in  Thee. 


LABORS.  451 

He  writes  thus  gratefully  of  the  change  that  came  over 
him  :  "  God  took  me  by  the  hand.  He  drew  me  from 
the  yawning  gulf,  diverted  my  eye  to  Himself  and  opened 
to  me  the  unfathomable  abyss  of  His  loving  heart." 

His  growth  in  grace  he  hoped  to  aid  by  changing  his 
business.  He  did  not  like  the  merchant's  trade,  because  it 
compelled  him  to  associate  with  all  sorts  of  people,  and 
thus  his  thoughts  were  distracted  from  religion  and  his 
growth  in  grace  obstructed.  His  acquaintance  with  a 
pious  linen  weaver  led  him,  like  the  Apostle  Paul,  to 
become  a  weaver.  He  found,  however,  that  that  trade 
was  too  severe,  and  his  frequent  headaches  and  attacks  of 
colic  compelled  him  to  give  it  up.  He  then  chose  the 
easier  trade  of  ribbon  weaving,  w^hich  would  allow  him 
plenty  of  time  for  meditation,  as  he  would  have  no  one 
with  him  except  the  person  who  wound  the  silk.  Like 
the  mystics,  he  practised  asceticism  in  diet,  living  mainly 
on  flour,  water  and  milk.  In  the  first  years  of  his  seclu- 
sion he  ate  only  one  meal  a  day,  and  drank  neither  tea  nor 
coffee.  Yet  even  though  his  income  became  ever  so  small, 
he  was  always  liberal  to  the  poor.  When  it  became  dusk,  he 
would  enter  the  homes  of  the  sick  and  the  needy,  and  give 
away  what  he  could  spare.  When  his  father's  property 
was  divided,  his  family  gave  him  a  house  as  his  share,  so 
as  to  prevent  him  from  giving  that  away.  But  he  grad- 
ually mortgaged  it  to  his  brother  John  for  money,  the 
greater  part  of  which  he  gave  to  the  poor.     As  a  result, 


452  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

he  would,  especially  in  his  early  life,  sometimes  come  to 
great  poverty.     When  sick,  he  knew  what  it  was  to  lie  a 
whole  day  without  any  one  to  give  him  a  cup  of  water. 
But  afterward,  when  he  allowed  Sommer  to  stay  with  him, 
his  condition  became  better,  and  he  also  became  less  rigid 
in  his  manner  of  living,  as  he  took  coifee.     He  labored  at 
ribbon  making  for  nine  years,  till  1728,  when  he  gave  up 
his  trade  entirely,  feeling  he  must  devote  all  his  time  to 
the  Lord.     After  that  time  he  was  supported  through  the 
kindness  of  his  friends,   although   Providence  furnished 
him  with  enough  literary  work  to  aid  him.     (Although  he 
gave  up  all  manual  labor,  he  yet  acted  as  a  physician,  giv- 
ing his  medicines  to  the  poor  freely.)     A   merchant  once 
called  on  him  and  offered  him  an  annuity ;  a  pious   lady 
who  had  never  seen  him,  appointed  him   in  her  will,   as 
executor  of  her  estate,  worth  40,000  florins,   on  condition 
he  would  take  whatever  he  needed.     And  a  Dutch  gentle- 
man offered  him  a  bond  of  ten  thousand  florins,   begging 
him  with  tears  to  take  it.     But   he   declined   them   all, 
although  in  later  years,  when  unable  to  help  himself,   he 
was  compelled  to  receive  some  gifts  like  these. 

His  public  work  as  a  speaker  began  in  1725.  A 
revival  broke  out  in  that  region,  the  second  in  that  cen- 
tury, but  the  first  that  Tersteegen  passed  through.*  Then 
it  was  that  Hoffman  called  on  him  to  speak  in  public, 
althouofh  it  was  against  his  will  to  do  so.      His   addresses 

*  See  Goebel  History  of  the  Rhenish  VVestphalian  Church,  Vol.  III.,  page  341. 


tersteegen's  travels.  453 

made  a  deep  impression.  Many  of  those  awakened  were 
by  them  brought  to  conversion,  while  others  came  to  him 
for  spiritual  counsel.  In  1740  the  conventicles  were 
arrested  by  order  of  the  state  authorities  under  Frederick 
the  Great.  Tersteegen  therefore  gave  up  the  holding  of 
conventicles,  but  continued  his  labors  in  translating  Piet- 
istic  and  mystical  works,  and  was  busy  making  pastoral 
visits,  for  many  persons  considered  him  their  spiritual 
adviser.  His  correspondence  also  was  very  large.  He 
made  trips  annually  to  Holland,  where  a  gentleman  of 
rank  named  Pauw,  who  had  given  everything  to  Christ, 
entertained  him.  Once,  while  on  a  journey  to  Holland 
with  a  company  of  merchants,  he  leaned  his  head  back- 
ward and  closed  his  eyes  as  if  asleep.  After  the  mer- 
chants had  regaled  each  other  with  a  number  of  stories, 
they  proposed  playing  a  game  of  cards.  Tersteegen  opened 
his  eyes  and  said  he  had  an  excellent  pack  of  cards  in  his 
bag.  They  asked  him  to  produce  them.  He  drew  forth  the 
New  Testament.  Some,  when  they  saw  it,  said  that  it  was  a 
book  that  made  people  mad.  He  replied,  "  Is  it  not  you 
who  are  mad  V^  He  then  rehearsed  to  them  the  foolishness 
of  their  own  conversation  and  showed  them  the  waste  of 
their  own  time.  Others  approved  of  his  remarks.  At 
any  rate  they  did  not  play  cards  after  his  remarks.  In 
Holland  on  one  occasion,  when  a  Christian  Avho  thought 
he  had  attained  peculiar  peace,  took  occasion  during  dinner 
to  criticize  Tersteegen    for  being  too  active,    Tersteegen 


454  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

listened  to  all  he  had  to  say.  And  when  dinner  was  over 
he  offered  np  a  fervent  prayer,  in  which  he  commended 
his  host  to  the  Lord  with  such  love,  that  his  host  was  over- 
come and  fell  on  his  neck  asking  forgiveness.  He  also 
began  visiting  the  districts  neighboring  to  Miilheim,  where 
the  state  order  prohibiting  conventicles  did  not  affect  them, 
as  they  were  in  the  neighboring  duchy  of  Pfalz  Neuburg, 
and  not  in  Prussia.  In  these  districts  he  had  many 
admirers,  who  2:ladlv  received  him.  He  visited  Mettman, 
Homberg,  Heiligenhaus,  and  in  1747  Barmen.  He  thus 
writes,  ^^  I  was  constrained  to  travel  around  in  the  duchy 
of  Berg  for  eleven  days  together,  and  was  surrounded  from 
morning  to  night.  I  thought  myself  once  a  few  miles 
distant  from  a  certain  place,  but  I  was  waited  for  on  the 
way  and  conducted  to  a  barn,  where  I  found  about  twenty 
persons  desirous  of  hearing  a  good  word  from  me.  One 
morning  when  about  mounting  my  horse,  I  found  twenty- 
five  persons  assembled,  to  whom  I  could  give  only  a  short 
address.  Some  of  them  had  come  from  a  distance  of 
several  miles.'' 

In  these  districts  there  had  been  a  great  awakening  in 
1727,  which  had  resulted  in  the  formation  of  brother- 
houses  or  pilgrims'  cottages  for  those  who  desired  to 
dwell  apart  from  the  world.  These  would  contain  about 
eight  persons,  and  were  centres  of  evangelization.  The 
first  of  these  was  at  Otterbeck,  a  mile  and  a  half  from 
Heiligenhaus,  on  the  road  between  Elberfeld  and  Miihl- 


THE   pilgrims'   COTTAGES.  455 

heim.  The  brothers  there  looked  up  to  Tersteegen  as 
their  pastor,  and  he  often  held  prayer  meetings  there, 
weekly  for  a  while.*  The  other  pilgrims'  cottage  (so 
called  because  often  persons,  who  came  from  a  distance, 
would  be  compelled  to  lodge  in  it)  was  at  Miihlheim. 
Tersteegen  first  occupied  Hoffman's  house,  but  it  became 
too  small  for  his  meetings,  so  he  bought  a  larger  house  in 
1746,  in  which  he  occupied  the  upper  rooms,  together 
with  Sommer.  The  other  rooms  he  gave  to  a  house- 
keeper, who  cooked  for  them,  and  for  their  guests  and  for 
the  poor.  The  whole  house  could  be  used  for  his  services. 
If  he  stood  on  the  middle  story,  he  could  be  heard  in  all 
the  rooms  above  and  beloAv.  The  other  pilgrims'  cottage 
was  at  Barmen,  in  the  house  of  his  friend  Evertsen,  who 
was  a  man  of  wealth  and  a  great  admirer  of  Tersteegen. 
The  Lord  greatly  blessed  Evertsen  in  his  ribbon  factory. 
Fifty  per  cent,  was  too  small  a  return,  while  three  hun- 
dred per  cent,  was  not  unheard  of.  Evertsen  became 
quite  rich,  and  when  he  died  he  left  to  the  churches  and 
schools  of  the  three  denominations  in  his  town  in  1807 
$27,000,  to  which  his  brother  added  $13,500  more.  The 
invested  funds  of  the  Barmen  Reformed  church,  including 
churches,  schools,  orphanages,  etc.,  amounted  to  $186,- 
936  in  1889,  a  large  part  of  which  was  given   by    these 

•=•  This  community  continued  till  ISOO,  when  a  farewell  meeting  was  held 
there,  at  which  Tersteegen's  hymns  were  sung  and  selections  from  his  works 
read.  The  Evangelical  Brothers'  Society  now  owns  the  place  and  occasionally 
hold.-;  meetincrs  there. 


456  THE    EEFORMED    CHUECH    OF    GERMANY. 

Evertsen  brothers,  wlio  were  followers  of  Tersteegen. 
Elberfeld  was  also  visited  by  Tersteegen.  There  his  old- 
est brother  lived  and  Casparv,  his  great  friend.  '^  Ter- 
steegen's  friends,"  says  Goebel,*  ''composed  an  ever 
increasing  part  of  the  Reformed  congregation  there,  which 
gladly  received  as  its  pastor  (1816)  the  follower  of  Ter- 
steegen, G.  D.  Krummacher,  who  combined  Pietism  with 
predestination."  Dietrich,  who  died  1836,  continued 
Tersteegen's  conventicles  np  to  his  death,  and  they  were  a 
blessing  to  many.  In  Solingen  and  its  vicinity  Ter- 
steegen had  many  adherents,  as  the  Eeformed  pastor, 
Goebel  (1724—42),  and  he  held  meetings  there. 

He  also  carried  on  a  large  correspondence  with  friends 
at  a  distance,  as  Count  Louis  Frederick  of  Castell  on  the 
Main,  Count  Charles  Reinhard  of  Leiningen-Heidesheim 
in  the  Palatinate,  Zollinger  in  Heidelberg,  and  Kolb  at 
Manheim.  His  correspondence  reached  out  over  West- 
ern Germany,  Holland  and  even  to  America,  where  he 
corresponded  with  the  brethren  at  Ephrata  and  along  the 
Conestoga  in  Pennsylvania. 

The  awakeningt  in  Barmen  and  the  county  of  Berg 
in  1747  resulted  in  a  mighty  revival  at  Miilheim  in  1750, 
which  reached  even  to  Meurs,  west  of  the  Rhine.  About 
ten  years  after  the  holding  of  prayer  meetings  had  been 
forbidden  in  1740,  they  were  begun  again.     This  time  a 

•^  History  of  Rhenish  Westphalian  Church,  Vol.  III.,  p.  387. 

f  Goebel's  History  of  Rhenish  Westphalian  Church,  Vol.  III.,  page  402. 


TERSTEEGEX'S    PRAYER   MEETINGS.  457 

Reformed  student  of  theology  from  the  university  of  Duis- 
burg  named  Chevalier  began  them.  Many  souls  were 
brought  under  conviction  and  came  to  Tersteegen  so  as  to 
find  the  way  of  life.  He  did  not  at  first  take  public  part 
in  the  meetings,  as  he  was  unwell.  But  finally,  on  Novem- 
ber 30,  1750,  he  arose  in  meeting  for  the  first  time  in  ten 
years  to  take  part  by  publicly  declaring  himself  in  favor  of 
them.  Finally,  at  the  urgent  request  of  his  friends,  he 
allowed  a  meeting  to  be  held  in  his  house,  where  three  or 
four  hundred  people  assembled.  The  house  was  filled  to 
the  very  door,  so  that  they  placed  ladders  on  the  outside 
that  they  might  hear  him.  The  state  authorities  and  the 
ministers  began  to  take  alarm  at  this.  So  Tersteegen, 
being  warned  by  a  friendly  bailiff,  wrote  to  the  judge  show- 
ing him  how  inconsistent  it  was  to  prohibit  m.eetings  like 
these,  and  yet  allow  quacks,  rope-dancers,  mountebanks, 
gambling  and  taverns.  The  judge  and  the  authorities 
granted  the  justice  of  his  position.  To  the  ministers  he 
wrote,  stating  that  there  was  nothing  in  these  meetings 
that  would  give  offence.  They  did  not  interfere  with  any 
public  service,  and  they  were  not  without  blessing,  for  by 
them  routrh  men  became  huno^rv  for  o;race.  He  reminded 
them  that  they  ought  not  to  hinder  the  work  of  the  Lord, 
and  proved  to  them  from  the  opinions  of  old  and  new 
theologians  in  the  Reformed  Church,  as  Lampe  and  Wit- 
sius,  that  such  conventicles  were  not  out  of  harmony  with 
the  Reformed  Church.  He  suggested  to  AVurms,  one  of 
30 


458  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

the  pastors,  that  he  allow  Chevalier  to  preach   for  him  or 
to  hold  a  service  in  his  house  under  his  supervision.*    The 
only  action  the  Presbyterium  of  the  Reformed  Church  took 
in  regard  to  the  meetings,  was  not  to  forbid  them,  but  to 
order  that  they  should  not  be  held  at  the  same  hour  as  the 
church  service.     These  conventicles  were  therefore   con-  • 
tinned  down  to  the  time  of  Tersteegen's  death  and  after, 
without  being  hindered  by  the  state  authorities,  and  they 
proved  of  great  blessing  both  to  the  state  and  the  Church. 
It  has  been  asserted  that  Tersteegen  became  a  Separa- 
tist.    This,  however,  is  not  true.      Goebelt  says,    "  Ter- 
steegen desired  to  be  and  to  remain  a  Reformed  and  Protest- 
ant Christian.     His  whole  system  and  method  depended 
on  the  Reformed  contemplation."      Ebrardt  says,   "  Ter- 
steegen is  incorrectly  placed  as  a  Separatist,  which  he  Avas 
not."       Heppe§    says,    ''  He    never    left    the    Reformed 
Church."      Kerlin,    the  best  biographer   of  Tersteegen,|| 
says,  "  We  would  not  call  him  a  Separatist,  and  are  satis- 
fied that  he  agreed  with    Calvin."       Tersteegen   himself 
said,  "A  Mystic  cannot  easily   be   a   Separatist."      The 
charge  that  he  was   put  out  of  the    Church  for   being  a 
Pietist  is  therefore  utterlv  without  foundation. 


■*•  It  is  said  that  when  Tersteegen  heard  that  Wurms  denounced  the  meetings 
from  the  pulpit,  he  said  prophetically  that  Wurms  would  have  a  sudden  death. 
And  sure  enough,  in  1772,  just  after  baptizing  a  child,  Wurms  did  die  suddenly. 

t  History  of  Rhenish  Westphalian  Church,  Vol.  III.,  page  413. 

I  Church  History,  Vol.  IV.,  page  110,  note. 

^  History  of  Pietism,  page  393. 
II  Kerlen  Life  of  Tersteegen,  page  194. 


TERSTEEGEN   NOT   A   SEPARATIST.  459 

He,  however,  gave  up  attending  the  Lord's  Supper, 
because  unworthy  persons  were  allowed  to  commune,  as 
Lodenstein  had  done,  and  yet  he  was  alw^ays  considered 
Reformed.  "And  yet  this  position,''  as  Kerlen  says,"*"  "  was 
exactly  the  position  taken  by  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  ;'' 
and  we  might  add,  the  position  of  the  Reformed  Church 
in  the  United  States  in  insisting  on  church  discipline. 
Tersteegen  did  not  deny  the  validity  of  the  sacraments,  as 
many  of  the  Separatists  had  done.  For  he  did  not  refuse 
to  act  as  sponsor,  which  showed  that  he  continued  to 
believe  in  baptism.  Toward  the  close  of  his  life  he 
became  milder  in  his  position  about  the  Lord's  Supper, 
and  there  is  a  tradition  that  just  before  his  death  he 
received  the  Lord's  Supper  from  a  believing  pastor  named 
Engel.  He  rarely  attended  church,  although  he  w^ould 
occasionally  attend  the  preaching  of  a  Pietistic  minister, 
especially  toward  the  close  of  his  life. 

His  position  about  Separatism  is  shown  by  the  follow- 
ing facts.  He  might  easily  have  founded  a  sect,  had  he 
w-anted  to  do  so,  for  he  had  more  foUow-ers  than  many 
w^ho  did  found  sects.  From  Amsterdam  to  Bern  he  had 
many  adherents.  They  called  him.  "  father,"  although  he 
forbade  that  name.  But  in  spite  of  all  this,  he  opposed 
the  formation  of  sects.  His  opposition  appears  more 
strongly  in  regard  to  the  Moravians.  They  did  every- 
thing to  win  him  to  their  denomination.      Count   Zinzen- 

■■  Life  of  Tersteegen,  page  93. 


460  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

dorf  at  first  wrote  letters  to  him,  and  then  sent  Dober, 
one  of  their  ablest  men,  to  him.  Dober,  when  he  met 
him,  showed  him  special  honor,  and  threw  himself  at  his 
feet  imploring  his  blessing.  But  Tersteegen  was  not  moved 
by  them.  On  the  contrary,  in  a  letter  to  Eberhard,  the 
Keformed  pastor  at  Spire,  he  warned  him  against  them, 
saying,  "  I  belieye  that  sect  is  not  agreeable  in  the  sight 
of  God."  He  charged  them  with  asserting  an  untruth, 
namely,  that  he  had  joined  them,  and  thus  they  through  a 
falsehood  tried  to  draw  his  followers  into  their  Church. 
He  charged  them  that  their  views  merely  awakened  souls, 
but  did  not  tend  to  the  development  of  Christian  character. 
He  also  wrote  a  long  letter  to  a  friend  in  Holland  against 
them  entitled  "A  Writing  of  Warning  against  Levity." 
Indeed,  it  was  owing  to  the  influence  of  Tersteegen  that 
the  Moravians  did  not  reap  the  harvest  for  their  Church 
along  the  Ehine  in  Western  Germany,  as  they  had  done 
in  Eastern  Germany.  Tersteegen's  opposition  to  them 
and  his  upholding  the  Church,  retained  the  Pietistic  ele- 
ment in  the  Eeformed  Church.  The  only  Moravian 
church  along  the  Rhine,  except  Basle,  was  at  Xeuwied, 
and  that  had  been  a  French,  not  a  German,  Reformed 
church.  One  year  before  his  death  he  confessed  that  more 
than  thirty  years  before  he  had  seen  the  misery  of  the  so- 
called  Separatists  with  disapproval  and  grief,  and  even 
in  1744  he  warned  Bersinger  emphatically  against  separa- 
tion.    So  Tersteegen,  instead  of  being  a   Separatist,    w^as 


461 


against  them.  Especially  after  the  edict  against  con- 
venticles, in  1740,  did  he  return  more  and  more  to  the 
Church.  In  his  prayer  meetings  in  1754  and  1755  he 
prayed  most  earnestly  for  all  servants  of  the  Church.  He 
was  the  more  willing  to  do  this,  because  he  saw  that  the 
number  of  Pietistic  ministers  in  the  Church  was  increas- 
ing. He  therefore  urged  his  adherents  to  remain  in  the 
Church.  The  result  has  been  that  the  followers  of  Ter- 
steegen  have  been  the  most  chnrchly  people  in  the  land,  as  at 
Elberfeld,  Miihlheim  and  Siegen.  And  when  Eller  and 
Schleiermacher  founded  the  Separatistic  colony  at  Rons- 
dorf,  he  wrote  an  effectual  admonition  against  them.  His 
followers  therefore  refused  to  leave  the  Reformed  Church. 
Tersteegen  had  always  been  sickly,  yet  lived  to  the 
good  old  age  of  seventy-two,  though  he  suffered  much 
from  headache,  colic,  palpitation  of  the  heart,  even  to 
fainting.  Sometimes  when  racked  with  the  severest 
toothache,  he  would  compose  his  sweetest  hymns.  He 
bore  his  headache  with  the  patience  of  a  Job.  These  suf- 
ferings gave  him  the  paleness  of  a  corpse,  so  that  he  called 
himself  ^^  a  candidate  for  death."  In  his  ascetic  diet  he 
reminds  us  in  America  of  Edward  Payson,  the  saint  of 
Maine.  He  wore  a  long  brown  coat,  and  in  this  he  was 
imitated  by  his  followers.  He  gradually  retired  from  pul)- 
lic  religious  work,  especially  as  he  had  suffered  a  rupture 
from  speaking,  about  1756.  Toward  the  end  of  his  life 
dropsy  set  in.     On  March  30,  1769,  he  was  very  weak. 


462  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

but  resigned  to  God's  will.  From  April  1-3  he  was 
obliged  to  sit  forty-eight  hours  in  an  arm  chair,  without 
being  able  to  lie  down.  He  passed  these  hours  in  great 
agony,  but  never  complained.  After  a  brief  sleep  he 
would  wake  up,  saying,  '^  O  God;  O  Jesus,  O  sweet  Jesus.'' 
Referring  to  Malachi  3  :  3,  he  said,  ^'  My  purification  was 
not  done  at  once.  God  finds  something  else  to  purify." 
He  died  April  3,  1769.  Three  days  later  he  was  buried 
in  the  church  yard  at  Miihlheim,  when  a  large  crowd 
gathered  to  show  their  great  affection  and  respect  for  him. 
Wurms,  the  Reformed  pastor,  preached  his  funeral  sermon 
on  Tersteegen's  favorite  text,  Malachi  3:3.  Rector  J. 
G.  Hasenkamp  of  Duisburg,  at  the  request  of  Tersteegen's 
friends,  made  an  address  at  the  house  on  Revelations  3  : 
21,  and  Pastor  Engel  read  a  poem. 

Thus  ended  the  life  of  one  of  the  most  consecrated  men 
of  his  age.  His  whole  life  was  a  living  prayer.  The 
key  to  his  life  is  found  in  his  greatest  hymn,  '^  Lo  !  God 
is  Here."  The  continual  presence  of  God  was  the  con- 
stant thought  of  his  mind.  He  tried  to  live  as  in  the 
presence  of  God.  The  testimony  borne  to  his  character  by 
all  was,  "  This  man  was  truly  a  friend  of  God."  Said  an 
inn-keeper  of  Miihlheim  :  "  Every  time  I  pass  that  man's 
house  a  feeling  of  reverence  comes  over  me,  and  the  mere 
recollection  of  him  makes  as  deep  an  impression  on  me  as 
many  a  sermon."  Tersteegen  was  a  mystic,  and  yet  a 
practical  mystic.     For  to  the  rich  inward   experience  of 


463 


God's  love  he  united  deeds  of  love.  Bv  liis  visits  to  the 
sick  and  the  neglected^  he  was  the  forerunner  of  the  mod- 
ern Innere  Mission  of  Germany.  Even  the  Jews,  when 
ill,  sent  to  him  for  medicine,  and  during  his  last  illness  it 
was  reported  that  they  had  appointed  a  meeting  to  pray 
for  his  recovery.  Tersteegen  declared  that  his  whole  the- 
ology was  contained  in  one  sentence,  ^^  God  was  in  Christ 
reconciling  the  world  to  himself.'^  In  1727  he  expressly 
recommended  four  things  to  a  friend,  "  the  atonement  of 
Jesus,  the  words  of  Jesus,  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  the  example 
of  Jesus."  He  was  the  Eeformed  Thomas  A.  Kempis^ 
whose  life  was  a  constant  imitation  of  Christ.  The 
opinion  held  of  him  by  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany 
is  summarized  by  F.  W.  Krummacher,  who  said,  when 
pastor  at  Elberfeld,  '^  O  what  would  we  sooner  see  than 
that  God  would  send  to  our  county  of  Berg  another  Ter- 
steegen.'' The  Reformed  Church  is  glad  to  claim  him 
among  her  sons.  This  was  shown  at  the  dedication  of  his 
monument  at  Miihlheim  in  1838,  when  all  the  ministers 
of  Miihlheim  took  part,  as  well  as  Krafft,  the  pastor  of  the 
Reformed  church  at  Frankford. 

His  literary  labors  were  very  great.  His  first  compo- 
sition was  a  catechism  which  he  wrote  in  1724  to  instruct 
the  children  of  his  brother  and  sister.  This  was  an 
excellent  production,  but  was  never  published.  In  it  he 
reveals  the  influence  of  the  Federal  school  of  theology, 
and  especially  of  Lampe.     A  large  part  of  his  time  was 


464  THE    REFOEMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

taken  up  in  translating  Pietistic  mystical  works.  He  was 
a  great  translator  of  Latin,  French  and  Dutch  works,  and 
would  usually  spend  his  evenings  thus.  He  translated 
Labadie's  Manual  of  Piety,  and  was  thus  the  link  between 
the  awakening  of  the  seventeenth  century  and  that  of  the 
eighteenth.  He  also  translated  Poiret's  and  Guyon's 
works  and  the  works  of  Louvigny  and  Kempis. 

His  own  writings  reveal  great  beauty  and  genius.  His 
most  important  Avork  against  Rationalism  and  Infidelity 
(for  his  best  answer  to  Rationalism  was  his  consecrated 
life,  rather  than  his  books)  was  his  book,  "  Thoughts  of 
Tersteegen  on  the  Philosopher  of  Sans  Souci."  It  was 
directed  especially  against  Frederick  the  Great.  He 
attacks,  first  the  King's  epicurean  ethics  as  neither  philo- 
sophical nor  Christian,  and  rebuked  him  for  his  biased 
judgments  in  matters  of  religion,  as  in  calling  martyrs 
raving  suicides.  Then  he  defends  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  and  the  punitive  justice  of  God.  Throughout  the 
book  he  meets  Rationalism  by  Pietism.  It  is  said  that 
the  King  read  the  book  and  then  said :  "  Can  the  Quiet- 
ists  in  the  land  do  this?"  The  King  (probably  in  1763, 
when  on  a  visit  to  Wesel,  not  far  from  Miihlheim)  invited 
Tersteegen  to  visit  him,  an  honor  which  Tersteegen  on 
account  of  his  age  and  weakness  declined.  Another  work 
of  his  was  his  "  Spiritual  Crumbs  or  Fragments."  They 
contain  his  addresses,  which  were  taken  down  by  others. 
For  in  1752,  at  the  request  of  some  of  his  followers,  he 


tersteegen's  works.  465 

allowed  them  to  take  down  an  awakening  sermon  on  2 
Corinthians  5  :  14,  on  ''  the  strength  of  the  love  of  Christ." 
It  soon  passed  through  six  editions.  Its  favorable  recep- 
tion 1-ed  to  a  demand  for  more  of  his  sermons.  From  that 
time  his  sermons  and  prayers  were  taken  down  by  eight 
writers,  who  stationed  themselves  down  stairs  in  his 
house,  where  they  could  hear  him  distinctly.  Within 
three  years  they  gathered  thirty-one  of  his  addresses.  He 
did  not  favor,  neither  did  he  hinder,  this  effort  of  his 
friends,  as  they  did  it  for  their  own  spiritual  development. 
These  were  published  three  months  before  his  death  under 
a  title  chosen  by  himself,  "  Spiritual  Crumbs  from  the 
Master's  Table."  They  were  in  two  volumes  or  four 
parts,  and  were  used  a  great  deal  at  conventicles.  Most 
of  the  addresses  had  been  delivered  in  1753  and  1754, 
when  he  had  attained  his  greatest  intellectual  and  spir- 
itual power ;  for  soon  after,  in  1 756,  he  gave  up  public 
speaking  on  account  of  a  rupture.  His  letters  published 
in  four  books  were  called  "  An  Apothecary  for  Spiritual 
Patients."  These  letters  admit  us  to  his  heart  and  reveal 
the  richness  of  his  spiritual  life.* 

-'■  One  of  the  most  curious  publications  connected  with  Tersteegen  was  "  The 
Pious  Lottery."  Saur  published  this  in  this  country  in  1744.  It  was  a  relig- 
ious game,  consisting  of  .381  tickets  printed  on  stiff  pasteboard  and  enclosed  in 
a  handsome  box.  Each  ticket  bore  beside  its  number  a  selected  passage  from 
his  writings.  In  playing  the  game,  each  player  chose  a  number  or  a  series  of 
numbers.  The  person  whose  ticket  won  the  game  was  expected  to  read  aloud 
the  passage  printed  on  his  ticket  and  to  make  it  the  subject  of  an  exhortation 
to  the  company. 


466  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

His  works  produced  such  a  sensation  that  Consistoral- 
rath  Hecker  was  sent  from  Berlin  to  Miihlheim  as  royal 
commissioner  to  inquire  into  his  work.  The  choice  of 
this  pious  minister  was  favorable  to  Tersteegen^  for  he  had 
been  reared  near  Miihlheim,  and  when  a  young  man  had 
learned  to  know  him  and  had  kept  up  his  friendship  with 
him  for  many  years.  After  Tersteegen  had  with  Aveak- 
ness  and  hesitation  declared  before  him  his  witness  to  the 
truth  on  1  Corinthians  6:19  and  20,  Hecker  confirmed 
what  he  said  by  an  address  on  "  The  Excellence  of  the 
True  Christian.'^  Hecker  sent  the  works  of  Frederick  to 
him  and  asked  his  opinion  about  them.  Tersteegen  sent 
back  a  confession  of  his  faith  and  subscribed  a  critique  of 
the  Philosopher  of  Sans  Souci. 

But  it  is  especially  as  a  poet  that  Tersteegen  exerted 
his  greatest  influence.  His  most  famous  work,  on  which 
his  reputation  mainly  rests,  is  his  Little  Spiritual  Flower 
Garden,  a  collection  of  hymns  and  poems.  It  consisted  of 
four  books  in  the  first  edition,  but  all  the  following  edi- 
tions have  three  only,  the  third  containing  his  111  spiritual 
songs.  It  became  so  popular  during  his  life  that  seven 
editions  were  published  before  he  died.  In  Miihlheim 
and  the  neighborhood  it  holds  a  place  next  to  the  Bible 
and  the  hymn  book.  It  was  often  used  by  travelers,  as 
Professor  Schubert,  who  kept  it  as  a  traveling  companion 
when  in  the  Island  of  Rugen.  Saur  in  this  country  pub- 
lished a  dozen  large  editions,   and  it  was   translated  into 


TERSTEEGEN^S    HYMNS.  467 

English  and  other  languages.  In  this  work  there  are 
many  gems  of  thought  and  poetry,  and  some  of  his  famous 
hymns,  as  "  Lo,  God  is  Here."  (Gott  ist  gegenwsertig.) 
It  is  based  on  Genesis  28  :  17. 

Lo,  God  is  here,  let  us  adore, 

Aad  own  how  dreadful  is  this  place, 

Let  all  within  us  feel  his  power. 

And  silent  bow  before  his  face. 

Who  know  his  power,  his  grace  who  prove 

Serve  him  with  awe,  with  reverence  love. 

Lo,  God  is  here.  Him  day  and  night 
The  united  choir  of  angels  sing, 
To  him  enthroned  above  all  height 
Heaven's  host  their  noblest  praises  bring. 
Disdain  not,  Lord,  our  meaner  song. 
Who  praise  thee  with  a  stammering  tongue. 

Gladly  the  toys  of  earth  we  leave. 
Wealth,  pleasure,  fame  for  Thee  alone 
To  Thee  our  will,  soul,  flesh,  we  give, 
O  take,  0  seal  them  for  thine  own. 
Thou  art  the  God,  Thou  art  the  Lord, 
Be  Thou  by  all  thy  works  adored. 

Being  of  beings,  may  our  praise 
Thy  courts  with  grateful  incense  fill. 
Still  may  we  stand  before  thy  face. 
Still  hear  and  do  thy  sovereign  will, 
To  thee  may  all  our  thoughts  arise, 
Ceaseless  accepted  sacrifice. 

His  hymns  began  to  re-awaken  the  Reformed  Church 
to  new  life.  They  were  first  sung  in  private  houses  and 
in  prayer  meetings,  and  brought  great  blessing.  They 
were  incorporated  in  the  Moravian  and  Lutheran  hymn 
books,  as  well  as  in  the  Reformed.     His  most  famous 


468  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

hyniDS  were,  "  Gott  ist  gegenweertig/'  ^^All  genugsam 
Wesen/'  "  Jauchzetj  ihr  Himmel  frolilocket,"  "  Sieges- 
flirst  und  Ehrenkoenig/'  "  Brunn  alles  Heils,  Dich  ehren 
wir/'  "  O  Gott,  O  Geist  des  Lebens/'  "  Kommt,  Kinder, 
lasst  uns  gehen,"  ^'  Der  Abend  kommt,  die  Sonne  sich 
verdecket/'* 

Some  beautiful  illustrations  are  told  in  connection  with 
his  most  famous  hymn,  "  Lo,  God  is  here.^^  Its  theme  is 
the  constant  presence  of  God.  That  rare  child  of  God, 
Theodora  Caritas,  a  two-year-old  daughter  of  Count  Zin- 
zendorf,  who  was  reared  under  such  strong  religious  influ- 
ence, and  who,  when  a  year  and  a  half  old,  w^ould  pray 
and  sing  verses  about  Jesus,  had  a  special  inclination  to 
this  hymn.  She  often  asked  her  father  to  sing  it,  and  she 
had  such  a  childlike  feeling  of  the  presence  of  God  that 
she  once  answered  her  mother  when  she  asked  her  where 
she  was,  "  With  the  Savior  and  with  papa.''  Six  weeks 
later  she  lay  on  her  dying  bed  and  sang,  ^^  My  Savior,  take 
me  into  rest." 

The  third  verse  is  often  omitted,  and  yet  there  is  a 
beautiful  illustration  told  in  connection  with  it.  Two 
English  missionaries  were  in  India,  Rev.  Dr.  Coke  and 
Rev.  Benjamin  Clough.  The  former  said  to  his  compan- 
ion, "■  My  dear  brother,  I  am  dead  to  all  but  India."  This 
thought  at  once  cheered  the  spirit  of  the  younger  brother, 
and  he  began  to  sing  the  third  verse  of  this  hymn,  begin- 

•••-  For  the  English  translation  of  some  of  these  hymns,  see  Appendix. 


TERSTEEGEN^S   HYMNS.  469 

niug  with  ''  Gladly  the  toys  of  earth  I  leave/'  As  he 
sang  it,  his  aged  friend  joined  with  him  and  they  cheered 
one  another  as  they  consecrated  themselves  afresh  to  God. 

Stnrsburg  says  :  The  hymn  "  Lo,  God  is  Here/'  glori- 
fies and  adores  the  presence  of  God  as  no  other  hymn  in 
Christendom  does.  It  makes  the  Christian  life  a  course 
of  life  in  the  presence  of  God,  and  this  doctrine  was  his 
centre  above  all  others. 

Tersteegen  was  one  of  the  great  Christian  poets  of 
Germany.  He  was  however  less  forcible  as  a  poet  than 
Lampe,  says  Ebrard,  but  his  poetry  surpasses  him  in  its 
fervor  and  the  classical  beauty  of  its  form.  Lange  com- 
pares his  poems  to  Angelius  Silesius  and  says :  "  that 
they  have  such  a  beautiful  form,  that  they  remind  one  of 
the  beauty  and  perfection  of  Gothic  art."  Bunsen  places 
him  as  the  first  master  of  spiritual  song,  an  honor  also 
accorded  to  him  by  the  Evangelical  Hausschatz  published 
by  the  Evangelical  Society  of  Zurich.  Hagenbach  places 
him  in  the  front  ranks  of  religious  poets,  while  Knapp 
declares  "  there  are  some  pieces  of  inimitable  depth,  clear- 
ness and  symplicity." 

One  of  his  most  famous  hymns  is,  "  Come,  Children, 
Let  us  Onward."     (Kommt,  Kinder,  lasst  uns  gehen.)* 

Every  verse  of  this  hymn,  says  Rev.  Dr.  Schaff,  is  a 
pearl.  Krummacher,  the  author  of  "  Elisha  the  Tishbite," 
wrote  the  following  in  his  autobiography,   "  I   found  my 

*  See  Appendix. 


470  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

pride  in  sharing  my  birthplace,  Meurs  on  the  Rhine,  with 
Tersteegen.  Scarcely  a  day  passed  in  which  some  accord 
of  his  pilgrim  hymn,  ^' Come,  Children,  Let  us  Onward,^' 
did  not  sound  through  my  inmost  being/'* 

*  A  noble  Jonathan,  a  merchant,  Metsgar,  of  Boblingen,  in  1886,  had  often 
stirred  up  his  heart  with  this  hymn.  Early  in  his  youth  he  had  served  an 
apprenticeship  at  Neustadt  on  the  Linde.  His  attention  was  directed  to  it 
then.  A  merchant  came  into  his  store  to  make  a  purchase.  Jonathan  asked 
him  if  he  did  not  need  this  or  that.  He  then  asked  him  why  he  did  not  buy 
anything.  The  man  replied  in  the  fifth  verse  of  the  hymn,  "  Wer  will,  der 
tragt  sich  todt."  These  words  went  home  to  the  heart  of  the  young  man,  and 
the  hymn  made  an  indelible  impression  on  his  mind.  At  another  time  late  in 
life  he  ascended  the  Strasburg  cathedral.  When  he  was  at  the  top  he  had  to 
sit  down  on  account  of  giddiness.  The  guide  to  the  tower  said,  "  AVhat,  so  far 
up  and  yet  not  up.  That  would  be  a  shame."  He  looked  and  saw  that  only 
a  few  steps  remained.  Then  the  words  "  Nur  noch  ein  wenig  Muth,"  (A  little 
more  courage)  came  to  him.  How  shameful  he  thought  it  would  be  if  one  had 
gone  a  long  way  to  eternity,  but  at  last  did  not  reach  the  goal. 


CHAPTER  lY.— SECTIOIS^  II. 
THE  HASENKAMP  BROTHERS. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century  three  broth- 
ers exerted  a  wide  influence  for  orthodoxy  and  Pietism. 
The  Hasenkamp  family  were  almost  as  important  in  the 
Reformed  Church  history  of  the  last  century,  as  the  Krum- 
macher  family  was  in  this  century.  "  They  were/'  says 
Goebel,  ^' a  clover  of  brothers,  a  tre-foil.''  These  three 
brothers  in  the  darkest  part  of  the  eighteenth  century 
without  fear  upheld  the  truth.  They  were  born  under 
the  straw  roof  of  a  farmer's  house  in  Tecklenberg. 

John  G.  Hasenkamp,  the  oldest  brother,  was  born 
July  12,  1736.  When  he  was  ten  years  old,  a  great 
revival  swept  over  his  native  land,  which  awakened  him. 
He  attended  the  university  of  Liugen,  1753-55,  where  he 
distinguished  himself  by  his  eager  thirst  for  knowledge 
and  his  zeal  for  evangelization,  which  led  to  his  arrest 
several  times  for  preaching  without  a  preacher's  license. 
He  was  suspended  from  the  ministry  because  of  so-called 
heterodoxy,  which  consisted  mainly  of  doing  evangelistic 
work  without  the  license  of  a  minister.  He  went  in  1761 
to  Breslau,  with  the  ambitious  hope  of  converting  Fred- 
erick tlie  Great.     He  found,  to  his  great  disappointment. 


472  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

that  he  was  not  able  to  do  this.  So  from  the  height  of  an 
exalted  hope  he  sank  to  the  depth  of  great  depression. 
After  a  severe  strnggle,  however,  he  arose  out  of  this 
despair.  He  returned  to  the  Rhine  region  as  a  private 
teacher.  And,  as  court  preachers  Sack  and  Hecker 
mediated  in  his  behalf,  he  was  again  admitted  to  the  min- 
istry in  1766.  He  was  appointed  rector  of  the  gymna- 
sium at  Duisburg,  and  assistant  pastor  of  the  Reformed 
congregation  there.  He  labored  there  during  the  last 
eleven  years  of  his  life  in  building  up  the  gymnasium. 
His  greatest  influence,  however,  was  by  his  testimony  for 
evangelical  Christianity  in  that  age  of  Rationalism.  He 
joined  himself  to  Tersteegen,  and  also  became  a  follower 
of  Collenbusch.  He  died  of  consumption  in  1777,  with 
the  shout  of  victory,  '^  hallelujah,''  on  his  lips. 

His  half-brother,  Frederick  Arnold,  was  born  January 
11,  1747,  and  became  his  successor  as  rector  of  the  gym- 
nasium at  Duisburg.  He  continued  his  brother's  blessed 
influence  on  the  students  of  the  university  against  Ration- 
alism. His  brother's  rectorate  and  his  own  at  Duisburg 
covered  thirty  years.  They  were,  therefore,  very  useful 
witnesses  for  the  truth  in  that  age  of  error.  He  boldly 
attacked  the  neology  of  the  Duisburg  university,  and 
wrote  against  Semler.  Another  brother  was  pastor  of  the 
mountain  parish  at  Dahle,  in  Mark,  for  thirty-five  years. 
These  three  bi  others  together  exerted  a  wide  influence 
against  Rationalism. 


CHAPTER  IV.— SECTION  III. 
MATTHEW  JORISSEN. 

He  was  born  October  26,  1739,  at  Wesel.  He  attended 
the  gymnasium  there  and  after  severe  struggles  decided 
to  enter  the  ministry  by  the  advice  of  his  cousin,  Ter- 
steegen.  In  1759  he  attended  the  university  at  Duis- 
burg,  where  he  joined  himself  to  a  circle  of  gifted  and 
pious  men.  He  finished  his  studies  at  Utrecht,  and 
remained  in  sympathy  and  correspondence  with  Terstee- 
gen  all  this  period.  In  1765  he  returned  to  Wesel,  where 
he  was  a  private  teacher  three  years,  and  became  an 
adherent  of  the  views  of  Hasenkamp  and  Collenbusch. 

In  1768  there  appeared  in  Wesel  a  rationalistic  work, 
which  satirized  the  leading  doctrines  of  the  Bible.  It 
created  a  tremendous  excitement,  even  the  school  children 
reading  it.  Jorissen,  although  only  a  candidate  for  the 
ministry,  came  out  against  it.  Rationalism  can  persecute, 
as  well  as  Romanism.  We  see  in  what  followed,  the  per- 
secution of  Rationalism,  for  liberals  are  of  all  men  the 
most  illiberal.  Jorissen  preached  an  eloquent  sermon 
against  this  book  on  February  28,  1768,  in  the  Matcna 
church  on  Proverbs  3  :  34,  ^^  Surely  he  scorneth  the  scorn- 
ers,  but  giveth  grace  to  the  lowly.'^     Jorissen  closed  with 

31 


474  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

the  words,  "  Since  my  Creator  has  made  me  a  man,  it  is 
my  solemn  duty,  with  all  I  am  and  have,  to  contend  for 
the  honor  of  His  name  and  Word.  And  this  I  will  do 
as  long  as  blood  flows  in  my  veins.^'  For  this  the  upper 
commandant  of  the  city,  Gaudi,  who  had  been  a  party  to 
the  publication  of  the  book,  made  a  complaint  against 
Jorissen  to  the  magistrates,  who  out  of  fear  for  Gaudi 
denounced  Jorissen  before  the  State  authorities  of  Cleve. 
These  in  turn  forbade  Jorissen  to  preach  any  more  until 
he  would  confess  his  error  and  promise  not  to  indulge  in 
any  such  extravagances  again.  The  enemies  of  Jorissen 
celebrated  this  victory  of  free  thought  by  a  sleighing 
party.  (But  Gaudi  died  afterward  of  apoplexy,  after 
reviewing  troops  on  Ascension  Day.  And  his  last  words 
most  profanely  were,  ^^  Your  Jesus  went  to-day  to 
heaven,  but  I  will  go  with  you  to  the  devil.''  His  death 
was  greeted  with  joy  by  the  people.)  Jorissen  refused  to 
make  an  apology  for  denouncing  the  enemies  of  the  Bible. 
He  therefore  went  to  Holland,  where  he  became  pastor  of 
the  German  church  at  the  Hague  for  thirty-seven  years, 
until  1819.  While  there  the  poetical  genius  of  Terstee- 
gen  again  appeared  in  him,  and  he  published  his  metrical 
translation  of  the  Psalms  in  1806.  The  old  version  of 
the  Psalms  by  Lobwasser,  which  had  been  in  use  among 
the  Reformed,  had  become  antiquated,  so  that  his  version 
was  gladly  received  and  was  introduced  into  the  Reformed 
church  at  Elberfeld. 


INCIDENT   OF   JORLSSEN.  475 

The  following  beautiful  illustration  is  told  by  Rev. 
Mr.  Bergfried,  who  heard  it  from  his  lips.  One  day, 
when  living  at  Wesel,  he  had  been  visiting  his  members. 
He  returned  late  in  the  evening  to  his  sleeping  room  with 
the  intention  of  retiring.  When  he  began  undressing 
himself,  he  thought  he  heard  a  voice  distinctly  saying  to 
him,  "  Jorissen,  go  to  Mrs.  N.  N.  and  tell  her,  ^  This 
covenant  is  not  valid.  My  covenant  is  eternal.' "  He 
thought  he  had  been  deceived,  and  therefore  proceeded 
with  his  preparation  to  go  to  bed.  But  again  he  heard 
the  same  voice  and  the  same  words.  He  thought  within 
himself,  "  What  shall  I  do,  it  is  too  late  to  go  there,"  and 
so  he  blew  out  his  light  and  laid  down.  But  the  third 
time  he  heard  the  words,  louder  than  before.  He,  there- 
fore, concluded  to  get  up  and  go.  He  dressed  himself 
again  and  walked  to  her  home.  When  he  arrived  there, 
he  asked  to  be  admitted,  but  the  servant  told  him  that 
her  mistress  would  see  no  one.  He  requested  her  to  go 
up  and  ask  her  mistress,  whether  she  would  not  admit 
him.  And  he  followed  the  servant  as  she  w^nt  in. 
When  he  came  to  the  door  of  the  lady's  room,  he  threw  it 
open,  and  exclaimed  with  a  loud  voice :  '^  This  covenant 
is  not  valid.  My  covenant  is  eternal."  He  then  entered 
her  room,  and  found  her  in  the  greatest  state  of  despair, 
having  a  rope  in  her  hand,  with  the  intention  of  hanging 
herself  He  asked  the  reason  for  this,  and  she  with  tears 
told  him  the  following — that  the  previous  night  some  one 


476  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

had  come  to  her  bed  and  said  to  her  :  "  You  have  served 
me  now  for  so  many  years,  I  would  like  to  possess  you 
altogether.  Open  a  vein  of  your  arm,  and  write  your 
name  with  your  blood  on  a  piece  of  paper,  stating  that 
you  will  belong  to  me  in  life  and  death.''  When  she  had 
done  this,  she  was  told  :  ^^  Now  conclude  this  compact  by 
taking  a  rope  and  ending  your  life.''  She  had  brooded 
over  this  the  whole  of  that  day,  and  on  that  evening  she 
was  about  obeying  it  by  killing  herself.  But  God  had 
intended  otherwise,  for  He  sent  Jorissen  late  in  the  night 
to  prevent  her  from  executing  this  plan  of  Satan.  Joris- 
sen took  the  rope  from  her,  went  to  the  table  on  which 
her  oath,  written  in  her  blood,  was  still  lying.  He  tore 
it  into  shreds,  and  spoke  again  those  mysterious  words 
that  had  come  to  him  :  ^'  This  covenant  is  hot  valid.  My 
covenant  is  an  eternal  covenant."  Now  these  strange 
words  were  explained.  The  devil's  covenant  was  not 
valid,  but  God's  is  eternal.  The  woman  was  overcome 
with  emotion.  And  the  spell,  under  which  she  had  been 
laboring,  was  broken ;  for  she  answered  him  :  "  Indeed, 
God  is  faithful,  and  His  covenant  is  everlasting."  After 
a  prayer  Jorissen  left  her  and  went  home,  thanking  God 
that  he  had  been  permitted  to  be  the  instrument  in  saving 
an  immortal  soul.  He  died  January  13,  1823.  His 
characteristics  were  ^^  clearness  and  vigor  of  intellect, 
warmth  of  affection  and  solidity  of  judgment." 


CHAPTER  IV.— SECTION  lY. 

JUNG  STILLING. 

Out  of  this  Rhine  region  came  a  genius  who  exerted  a 
wide  influence  on  the  literary  world  for  the  old  faith,  John 
Henry  Jung  Stilling.  He  was  born  in  Nassau  Siegen  on 
September  12,  1740.  Siegen  had  been  overrun  by  Ration- 
alism for  about  half  a  century.  Otterbein,  the  old  Re- 
formed pastor  at  Burbach,  who  died  1800,  complained 
bitterly  that  after  his  death,  the  Heidelberg  Catechism 
would  no  longer  be  used  by  his  congregation.  Rational- 
ism was  generally  forced  on  congregations  by  the  civil 
authorities  who  had  control  of  the  Church.  And  yet,  as 
in  the  days  of  Ahab,  there  were  seven  thousand  who  had 
not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal,  among  them  Stilling.  His 
mother  died  young,  and  his  father  joined  one  of  the  little 
Christian  circles  that  kept  piety  alive.  John  Henry 
attended  a  Latin  school  and  wanted  to  become  a  minister, 
but  his  poverty  prevented.  Providence,  however,  placed 
him  in  a  sphere,  in  which  he  exerted  a  wider  influence 
than  perhaps  he  would  have  done,  had  he  entered  the 
ministry.  He  learned  the  tailors'  trade  with  his  father, 
but  his  mind  soared  above  the  needle.  By  studying  at 
odd  intervals,  he  acquired  geography,  mathematics,  Greek, 


478  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Hebrew,  and  =n  a  few  weeks  French.  He  then  became 
private  teacher  to  a  merchant  at  Eade,  where  he  learned 
the  sciences  of  agriculture  and  economics.  Here  a  Rom- 
ish priest  confided  to  him  an  eye  cure,  which  revolution- 
ized his  life.*  Through  it  he  cured  a  rich  patient,  Hey- 
der  of  Ronsdorf,  whose  daughter  he  married.  By  her  aid 
and  the  help  of  his  friends  he  managed  to  go  to  the  uni- 
versity of  Strasburg,  where  he  Avas  granted  a  physician's 
diploma  in  1771,  having  gained  it  by  the  greatest  dili- 
gence in  a  single  year. 

His  stay  at  the  university  brought  him  into  contact 
with  Herder  and  Goethe,  who  afterwards  brought  him  to 
public  notice.  He  always  remained  a  Pietist,  although 
his  former  brethren  declared  he  was  one  no  longer, 
because  he  wore  a  periwig  and  a  cravat,  and  powdered 
his  hair.  But  he  had  learned  that  true  Pietism  consisted 
in  something  more  than  outward  dress.  He  then  located 
at  Elberfeld,  where,  although  he  had  many  patients,  yet 
he  did  not  succeed  financially.  But  he  happened  to  suc- 
ceed in  literature  better  than  in  medicine,  for  he  had 
written  an  autobiography,  with  which  Goethe  was  so 
pleased  that  he  published  it  for  him,  and  it  gave  Stilling 
fame  all  over  Germany.  It  was  a  beautiful  union  of  fact 
and  fancy,  poetry  and  reality,  truth  and  fiction,  and  all 
permeated  with  the  most  supreme  faith  in  God.     In  it  he 

■•:■  Eye  doctors  were  scarce  in   those  days,  as  that  was  before  the  days  of 
specialists  in  medicine. 


479 


gives  many  illustrations  of  deliverances  granted  him  by 
God.  Thus,  when  he  arrived  at  Strasburg,  he  had  only  a 
dollar  in  money.  He  laid  his  case  before  the  heavenly 
Father  in  prayer.  Just  then  he  met  a  merchant  from  his 
home  at  Frankford,  who  asked  him  :  ^'  Where  do  you 
get  money  to  study  ?"  He  replied  :  '^  I  have  a  rich  Father 
in  heaven.^'  ^^  How  much  money  have  you  ?''  the  friend 
asked.  "  One  dollar.'^  ''  Well,  I  am  one  of  the  Lord's 
stewards/'  and  he  handed  Stilling  thirty-three  dollars. 
Stilling  had  been  in  Strasburg  but  a  short  time,  when 
these  thirty-three  dollars  were  reduced  again  to  one. 
Again  he  prayed  most  earnestly,  and,  lo,  his  room-mate 
came  with  thirty  dollars  in  gold.  A  few  months  after 
this  the  time  arrived,  when  he  must  either  pay  the  lec- 
turer's fee,  or  have  his  name  stricken  off  the  lecturer's  list 
of  students.  The  money  must  be  paid  by  six  o'clock,, 
Thursday  evening.  He  spent  the  day  in  prayer.  Five 
o'clock  came,  and  still  there  was  no  money.  His  anxiety 
made  him  break  out  into  a  perspiration,  and  his  face  was 
wet  with  tears.  A  knock.  It  was  the  gentleman,  from 
whom  he  rented  the  room,  who  asked  him  how  much 
money  he  had  left.  He  told  him.  (Stilling  felt  like 
Habakkuk,  when  the  angel  took  him  by  the  hair  of  his 
head  to  carry  him  to  Babylon).  The  gentleman  returned 
with  forty  dollars  in  gold,  which  was  just  enough  to 
enable  him  to  pay  his  debt  to  the  university  and  continue 
his  studies.     He  held  that  prayer  was  the   secret  of  sue- 


480  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

cess.  His  childlike  faith  in  God  was  a  wonder  to  the 
sneering  infidelity  of  his  day.  Goethe  says:  '^  This 
strange  man  thinks  he  needs  but  throw  the  dice,  and  our 
Lord  God  must  place  the  stones  for  him."  His  life  of 
faith  was  the  best  practical  answer  to  infidelity,  for  infi- 
delity was  powerless  to  answer  it. 

The  publication  of  this  book  helped  him  in  his 
straightened  circumstances  at  Elberfeld,  and  called  atten- 
tion to  his  genius.  He  was  appointed  in  1778  to  a  pro- 
fessorship of  economy  and  finance  in  the  new  academy  at 
Kaiserlautern,  and  in  1787  to  a  professorship  in  the  uni- 
versity of  Heidelberg.  He  was  then  called  to  Marburg, 
as  professor  of  finance.  But  his  devotional  writings  and 
his  eye  cures  brought  him  greater  fame  than  his  lectures 
on  finance.  He  had  not  the  hard  sense  necessary  to  treat 
that  science,  for  he  was  a  poetical,  mystical,  imaginative 
genius.  His  classes  sometimes  numbered  only  three, 
although  he  treated  more  than  two  thousand  blind  per- 
sons in  his  life.  As  he  found  the  writing  of  religious 
works  more  congenial  to  his  taste,  he  accepted  a  call  from 
the  Elector  of  Baden  to  become  his  private  councilor. 
The  Elector  had  been  charmed  by  his  work  "  Homesick- 
ness,''  and  appointed  him  to  be  his  companion.  He 
removed  in  1803  to  Heidelberg,  and  in  1806  to  Carls- 
ruhe.  He  now  had  time  to  study  Madame  Guyon  and 
the  mystics.  His  correspondence  became  immense;  his 
journeys    became   frequent.     His    house   was  visited    by 


481 


many  friends,  and  seemed  to  be  a  "  Holiest  of  Holies/' 
where  all  ordinary  things  seemed  put  aside.  He  busied 
himself  with  evangelical  (especially  apocryphal)  works 
based  on  Bengel.  His  greatest  work  was  his  '^  History 
of  the  Victory  of  the  Christian  Religion''  (an  exposition 
of  the  book  of  Revelation),  and  his  '^  Theory  of  Spirit 
Law,"  based  partly  on  Swedenborg.  His  ^'  Homesick- 
ness," or  scenes  in  the  kingdom  of  spirits,  and  his 
romances  or  mystical  tales,  as  ^'  The  Life  of  Sir  Morning 
Dew,"  gave  him  great  fame.  His  '^  Theobald,  the 
Fanatic"  reveals  his  pietistic  tendencies.  He  wrote 
polemical  works  against  Rationalism,  as  '^  The  Great  Pana- 
cea Against  the  Sickness  of  Infidelity,"  but  they  did  not 
exert  the  influence  of  his  '^  Autobiography."  '^  Most  of 
his  writings  will  be  long  forgotten,  but  his  life  will  be 
read.  It  was  a  wanderer's  life,  in  which  the  most  beauti- 
ful point  is  the  Father's  house,  from  which  it  proceeded, 
and  the  Father's  house  which  his  pilgrimage  sought. 
*  Blessed  are  they  that  are  homesick,  for  they  shall  come 
home.'  Thousands  are  comforted  by  his  wandering  life 
through  places  and  professions."  Like  Antoine  Court,  the 
wandering  preacher  of  the  desert  during  the  persecutions 
of  the  French  Reformed  Church,  so  Stilling  was  a 
preacher  in  the  desert  of  Rationalism  of  the  eighteenth 
century  of  Germany.  He  died  April  2,  1817,  saying : 
^'  Lord,  receive  my  spirit." 


CHAPTER  IV.— SECTION  Y. 

JOHN  CHRISTIAN  STAHLSCHMIDT. 

He  was  born  in  Nassau  Siegen,  March  3,  1740.  He 
early  manifested  a  great  desire  to  know  everything,  and 
his  first  money  he  spent  in  buying  maps.  But  as  a  youth 
he  was  inclined  to  be  wild  and  extravagant,  yet  he  was 
early  awakened  to  serious  things.  His  first  solemn 
impressions  came  from  the  reading  of  the  story  of  Joseph 
in  school.  He  wept  over  Joseph  and  said  he  could  not 
comprehend  how  brothers  could  treat  a  brother  so.  When 
he  came  to  the  glorious  end  of  the  history,  he  was  so 
impressed  that  he  determined  to  become  a  good  man. 

When  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age,  after  he  had  spent 
more  than  half  the  night  in  frivolity,  and  returned  to  his 
chamber,  he  had  a  terrible  dream.  He  thought  the  end 
of  the  world  had  come.  He  heard  a  strange  noise,  and 
lo  !  as  he  looked  around,  he  found  himself  in  the  midst 
of  a  great  multitude  of  men  moving  on  to  be  judged. 
Terror  seized  him  as  he  said,  '^  Now  the  day  of  grace  is 
past,  and  there  is  no  mercy  for  me."  He  saw  the  Judge 
on  the  throne  who  beckoned  him  to  come  near.  He  fell 
on  his  face  and  cried,  '^  Mercy,  I  will  lead  a  better  life." 
This  awoke  him  from  sleep.    The  dream  led  him  to  become 


stahlschmidt's  youth.  485 

more  serious,  and  some  months  after  the  exhortations  of 
his  uncle  led  him  to  form  an  unchangeable  resolution  to 
give  himself  wholly  to  God.  Through  this  uncle,  who 
was  a  great  admirer  of  Boehme,  he  inclined  to  Separatism. 
His  father,  who  was  an  elder  in  the  Reformed  Church, 
treated  him  very  severely  for  this,  even  whipping  him  when 
he  was  nineteen  years  of  age,  and  exhorting  him  to  prom- 
ise that  he  would  not  any  more  read  the  books  of  the  Pie- 
tists or  attend  their  meetings.  He  made  this  promise,  but 
the  next  day  he  was  miserable  about  it,  for  it  seemed  as 
if  all  his  pleasures  were  gone,  because  he  could  not  read 
Pietistic  books  or  attend  Pietistic  meetings.  As  he  thus 
considered  the  matter,  the  thought  came  to  him  of  leaving 
father  and  mother.  On  the  following  Sunday  he  secretly 
packed  his  clothing,  engaged  in  earnest  prayer  and  wrote 
a  letter  to  his  father  saying,  ^^  that  he  had  made  a  vow  to 
him  that  he  could  not  keep,  so  he  had  resolved  to  go 
away,"  and  left  it  on  the  table.  When  the  watchman 
cried  "  twelve  o'clock,"  he  went  away  through  the  rear  of 
the  house,  and  the  next  morning  arrived  at  Cologne, 
which  he  left  before  his  father  could  follow  him.  At 
Amsterdam  were  printed  the  mystical  books  he  had  so 
gladly  read  and  for  which  he  had  suffered  so  much ;  but 
only  after  a  long  search  was  he  able  to  find  the  works  of 
Boehme,  which,  with  his  Bible,  constituted  his  only  books. 
These  he  took  with  him  on  his  voyages  to  the  East  Indies. 
On  his  return  the  vessel  was  struck  by  lightning,  two 


484  THE    EEFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

sailors  killed  and  others  stunned,  and  the  ship  set  on  fire 
by  it.  I)eath  seemed  to  sstare  them  in  the  face.  They 
finally  succeeded  in  arresting  the  fire.  The  sailors  who 
had  been  killed  were  the  most  profane  on  the  ship,  and 
he  looked  on  it  as  a  just  judgment  of  God  on  them  for 
their  wickedness,  more  especially  as  there  were  eight 
sailors  between  those  who  were  struck,  and  yet  they 
were  the  only  ones  killed.  After  another  voyage  to 
India  he  again  visited  his  home  in  1 765.  He  now  found 
his  father  friendly.  While  there  the  devotional  writings 
of  Tersteegen  fell  into  his  hand.  He  became  so  inter- 
ested in  them  that  he  visited  Tersteegen  in  1766,  and  a 
second  time  the  next  year. 

But  he  was  dissatisfied  with  his  business,  the  manu- 
facture of  lace  strings,  as  it  was  not  conducive  to  gro^\i:h 
in  piety.  He  therefore  started  for  America  and  arrived 
at  Philadelphia  in  August,  1770.  A  few  days  after  he 
arrived,  the  schoolmaster  of  the  First  Reformed  church  of 
Philadelphia,  who  knew  his  family,  took  a  kindly  interest 
in  him.  Rev.  Dr.  Weyberg,  the  pastor  of  the  church, 
soon  discovered  his  talents  and  urged  him  to  study  for 
the  ministry.  He  studied  under  him,  and  he  was  licensed  by 
the  Reformed  Coetus.  After  preaching  in  various  Reformed 
congregations,  he  was  licensed  at  Reading  and  ordained 
as  pastor  of  the  York  charge  in  1775.  But  as  he  was  a 
strong  patriot,  he  found  in  those  days,  when  the  Revolu- 
tion was  breaking  out,   his  position  unpleasant,  because 


485 


some  of  his  members  favored  the  British  and  some  the 
patriots.  So  after  a  four  years'  pastorate  he  returned  to 
Germany.  On  his  voyage  he  was  almost  shipwrecked, 
but  finally  arrived  at  his  home  in  Germany.  His  min- 
istry is  another  link  between  the  Reformed  of  America 
and  the  Pietists  of  Germany.  It  also  reveals  Rev.  Dr. 
Weyberg's  position  in  favor  of  positive,  evangelical, 
earnest  Christianity.  If  Pietists  were  un-Reformed,  why 
was  Stahlschmidt  received  into  the  ministry  of  our  early 
Reformed  Church  ?  He  expected  to  return  to  America 
after  the  political  troubles  were  over,  but  circumstances  in 
Siegen  had  changed  since  he  had  gone  away.  The  Pietists 
in  Berg  and  Siegen  missed  the  leadership  of  Tersteegen, 
and  many  had  gone  back  to  worldliness  again.  Those 
who  remained,  begged  him  not  to  go  back  to  America, 
but  to  stay  with  them  and  use  his  rich  spiritual  gifts  for 
their  benefit.  So  a  minister  of  our  American  Reformed 
Church  became  the  successor  of  Tersteegen,  the  PietivSt. 
As  Stahlschmidt  did  not  have  a  university  education,  he 
could  not  enter  the  ministry  of  the  State  Church  of  Ger- 
manv,  althouo^h  a  minister  of  our  Church  in  America,  so 
he  became  a  merchant  and  a  lay  worker  there.  He  wrote 
an  account  of  his  life  and  travels  called  "  The  Pilgrimage 
by  Water  and  Land,"  published  in  1799  at  Nuremberg. 


CHAPTER  lY.— SECTION  YI. 

GOTTFRIED  DANIEL  KRUMMACHER. 

We  now  come  to  one  of  the  most  interesting  families 
in  the  Reformed  Church,  the  Krummacher  family.  Two 
brothers  first  appear,  Gottfried  Daniel  and  Frederick  Adol- 
ph  us.  *  Gottfried  Daniel  was  a  tower  of  strength — a  perfect 
Boanerges  on  the  Northern  Rhine.  He  was  born  April  1, 
1774,  in  Tecklenberg,  where  his  father  had  suddenly  been 
converted  from  a  worldly  and  sinful  life,  and  like  Ter- 
steegen,  wrote  his  consecration  in  his  own  blood.  Gott- 
fried attended  the  University  of  Duisburg.  His  early 
studies  led  him  to  doubt  the  Bible  and  prayer  was  largely 
given  up.  Still  Hasenkamp  exerted  a  blessed  influence 
over  him  there.  In  1798  he  was  called  as  pastor  to 
Baerl.  His  predecessor  there  had  been  a  Rationalist,  and 
the  congregation  had  complained  against  him  to  the  Synod. 
When  the  president  of  the  Synod  appeared  and  tried  to 
heal  matters,  the  members  armed  themselves  Avith  scythes 
and  hatchets,  and  garrisoned  the  church,  declaring  they 
would  not  have  their  former  pastor  back  again  at  any 
price.  Before  a  congregation  who  were  suspicious  of  the 
least  Rationalism,  Gottfried  preached  his  trial  sermons. 

••••  Of  the  latter  we  will  speak  in  the  next  Chapter. 


KRUMMACHER   AT   BAERL.  487 

After  his  sermon  some  of  the  pietistic  Christians  in  the 
congregation  came  together  and  said  of  him,  "  Hear  !  Out 
of  this  little  man  great  things  will  come/'  They  judged 
him  rightly.  He  came  as  pastor,  attended  by  a  large 
number  of  riders  as  he  entered  Baerl,  for  they  always 
honored  the  new  minister  with  an  escort. 

But  although  he  was  no  longer  a  Rationalist,  yet  he 
was  not  a  Christian  of  religious  experience.  The  Lord 
led  him  to  Christ  by  a  peculiar  providence.  He  had 
hardly  arrived  in  this  charge,  when  he  happened  one 
day,  while  out  walking  through  a  small  village  in  his 
parish,  to  overhear  the  singing  of  a  hymn  in  one  of  the 
houses.  Pleased  with  it,  he  stood  still  for  a  moment  and 
then  went  to  the  room  whence  it  came.  There  he  found 
three  saints  of  Israel  of  his  church,  who  were  accustomed 
to  come  together  to  sing,  and  confer  about  a  verse  of 
Scripture  or  a  question  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism. 
They  greeted  him  in  a  most  friendly  way,  and  continued 
discussing  that  part  of  our  catechism,  which  teaches  of  the 
working  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  our  heart,  so  as  to  give 
assurance.  Of  this  he  was  as  yet  ignorant.  They 
then  asked  him  to  make  a  prayer,  which  he  did. 
As  soon  as  he  was  done,  the  oldest  of  them,  like  Simeon 
on  Christ,  laid  his  hand  on  his  shoulder,  and  from  an 
overflowing  heart  said :  ^'  O,  pastor,  what  an  office  is 
yours  !  You  are  to  watch  over  the  sheep  Jesus  Christ  has 
bought  with  His  own  precious  blood.     O   that  the  Holy 


488  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Ghost  in  richest  measure  may  come  upon  you  and  rest  on 
•  you/^  He  continued  in  this  strain,  until  the  young 
preacher,  deeply  aifected,  stood  with  tears  flowing  down 
his  cheeks,  while  the  aged  saint  kept  on  speaking,  and 
finally  pointed  him  to  the  promise  of  Daniel,  that  ^'  They 
that  turn  many  to  righteousness  shall  shine  as  the  stars 
forever  and  ever."  Krummacher  answered  not  a  word. 
He  stood  still  a  moment,  and  then,  bidding  them  good- 
day,  went  sobbing  to  his  house.  There  on  his  knees  he 
wept  and  prayed.  He  felt  himself  dead  in  sin  and 
rejected  by  God.  His  anxiety  almost  took  away  his 
breath.  Here  many  long  nights  he  wept.  One  of  the 
men,  who  thus  brought  conviction  to  his  heart,  visited 
him,  and  as  Krummacher  told  him  his  sorrow,  he  laughed 
for  joy.  "  How  can  you  laugh  at  my  sorrow  ?"  Krum- 
macher asked.  "  I  see,"  he  replied,  '^  for  our  deeply 
broken  hearts  Jesus  wants  to  love,"  and  he  went  away 
praising  God.  While  Krummacher  was  in  this  condi- 
tion, he  saw  a  spider  spinning  its  web.  He  went  to  it 
and  killed  it,  but  as  he  did  so,  the  thought  came  to  him  : 
"  What  hast  thou  done  ?  Who  gives  you  the  right  over 
the  life  of  this  insect  ?  How  much  more  a  thousandfold 
wert  thou  worthy,  thou  sinful  creature,  of  being  trodden 
under  foot !"  Broken-hearted  he  ascended  the  pulpit. 
Most  wonderfully  he  preached  the  law,  and  many  Avere 
convicted  of  sin.  Thus  Krummacher  was  converted,  and 
also  baptized  with  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 


G.    D.    KEUMMACHER.  489 

In  1801  he  was  called  to  Wiilfrath,  near  Elberfeld, 
where  he  was  pastor  for  fifteen  years.*  In  1816  he  was 
called  to  Elberfeld,  the  most  prominent  Reformed  congre- 
gation in  Germany  that  remained  orthodox.  "  What !  I, 
a  stammering  Moses,  to  go  to  Elberfeld/'  he  said.  Bnt 
nrged  on  all  sides,  he  accepted.  He,  however,  realized 
his  responsibility,  for  he  said  afterward,  "  I  went  to  Elber- 
feld  as  to  my  death.^^  Through  his  preaching  a  great 
awakening  took  place  there  from  1816  to  1818.  Every 
Sunday  the  churches  were  filled  back  to  the  last  seats  with 
seeking  souls,  and  the  great  question  was,  ''  What  must  I 
do  to  be  saved  ■?'^  Some  ot  them  formed  circles  for  the 
study  of  the  Bible  and  met  at  the  house  of  Dieterich. 
They  held  prayer  meetings  in  which  each  took  part  by  a 
question  or  an  explanation  or  a  testimony. f 

There  also  arose  in  this  congregation  some  who  looked 
on  his  orthodoxy  with  suspicion.  They  misunderstood 
his  use  of  the  word  grace,  and  thought   by   it   he   always 

■-••  There  he  once  called  on  a  very  hot  summer  clay  on  a  sick  man,  who 
complained  that  he  had  been  very  greatly  annoyed  by  blasphemous  thoughts, 
which  gave  him  no  rest.  Krummacher  knew  not  how  to  comfort  him,  but, 
wiping  his  face  of  perspiration,  he  said:  "How  many  flies  the  summer  gives 
us  I"  After  endeavoring  to  comfort  the  sick  man,  he  went  away.  Some  tiiue 
after  he  again  visited  the  sick  man,  and  was  surprised  to  find  how  joyful  he 
was.  The  man  said,  "  0  pastor,  you  left  a  little  word  with  me  the  last  time 
that  changed  my  life."  "  What  was  it."  You  said,  "  How  many  flies  there 
were."  After  you  had  gone  it  occurred  to  me  that  my  blasphemous  thoughts 
were  nothing  but  flies,  and  as  summer  passed  away,  and  with  it  the  flies,  so 
my  temptations  would  pass  away. 

I  For  proof  of  this  see  "  Lives  of  Friends  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,"  by  Rev.  Charles 
Krummacher,  pages  5  and  11. 

32 


490  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

meant  election  of  grace,  and  that  he  emphasized  election 
too  much,  so  as  to  become  antinomian.  Complaint  was 
brought  against  him  before  the  Synod,  and  he  had  to 
preach  before  its  president  a  sermon  on  Romans  6:12. 
But  he  proved  that  he  was  orthodox  on  this  text  and  not 
antinomian,  and  he  was  acquitted.*  His  bold,  blunt 
preaching  dealt  telling  blows  against  the  Rationalists. 
He  was  in  doctrine  a  Cocceian,  but  at  Elberfeld  he  made 
predestination  as  prominent  as  it  had  been  made  at  the 
Synod  of  Dort.  He  died  January  30,  1837.  His  last 
words  were  :  "  I  will,  yes  I  must  hold  the  fort" — ^^A 
mighty  fortress  is  our  God." 

■'••  On  one  occasion  as  he  was  preaching  a  course  of  sermons  on  the  Wander- 
ings of  the  Children  of  Israel,  it  was  told  him  that  the  Crown  Prince  of  Ger- 
many would  attend  his  service.  He  refused,  however,  to  change  his  subject 
even  for  the  Crown  Prince,  but  replied  that  the  Crown  Prince  might  go  over 
the  Red  Sea  with  them.  The  Prince  attended,  and  expressed  himself  well 
pleased  with  the  sermon. 


CHAPTER  IV.— SECTIO^^  VII. 

FREDERICK  WILLIAM  KRUMMACHER. 

The  greatest  of  all  the  Krummachers  was  Frederick 
AVilliam,  a  son  of  Frederick  Adolphus.  He  was  one  of  the 
most  finished  orators  of  this  century,  and  became  the  great 
court  preacher  of  Prussia.  He  was  born  at  Meurs,  Jan- 
uary 28,  1796,  where  Tersteegen  was  born  a  century 
before.  He  studied  at  Halle  and  Jena  universities.  To 
save  himself  from  spiritual  starvation  there,  he  read 
Herder's  ^^  Spirit  of  Hebrew  Poetry,"  ^'  Schleiermacher's 
Addresses/'  together  with  the  works  of  the  church  fathers 
and  of  Luther.  During  all  this  time  he  was  rather  an 
aesthetic  Christian  like  Herder,  than  a  thorough  Evan- 
gelical. He  was  called  as  assistant  pastor  of  the  German 
Reformed  church  at  Frankford  in  1819.  He  names 
Frankford  as  his  spiritual  birthplace,  where  he  was  led  to 
know  Christ  by  such  spiritually-minded  friends  as  his 
colleague,  Manuel.  In  1825  he  was  called  to  Ruhrort, 
opposite  Baerl.  When  he  entered  the  charge,  he  was 
received  like  a  Prince  with  firing  of  guns  and  huzzaing  of 
the  people,  the  vessel  on  which  he  came  being  decorated 
with  flags  as  the  whole  congregation  assembled  to  receive 
their  pastor.     This  pastorate  he  called  the  ]May   season  of 


492  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

his  life.  Here  he  came  in  contact  with  the  rich  spiritual 
life  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  the  northern  Rhine. 

From  Ruhrort  he  was  called  to  Gemarke  near  Barmen. 
When  he  entered  this  charge  he  again  met  with  a  royal 
reception.  A  long  procession  of  splendid  carriages  and  a 
troop  of  stately  horsemen  escorted  him.  Here  he  found 
more  intellectual  piety  than  at  Ruhrort^  but  intensely  Cal- 
vinistic  and  devoted  to  the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  In 
this  centre  of  religious  life  he  preached  on  week  evenings 
his  famous  sermons  on  Elijah  and  Elisha,  and  also  on  the 
Song  of  Solomon.  These  gave  him  a  wide  reputation. 
His  Elijah  was  translated  into  seven  languages.  He  him- 
self became  a  veritable  Elijah,  to  rise  up  and  rebuke 
Rationalism — the  Baalism  of  his  day. 

In  1834  the  great  Reformed  church  at  Elberfeld 
called  him.  Here  he  held  a  position  in  the  front  rank  of 
German  ministers.  He  was  an  orator  of  the  first  rank. 
He  combined  depth  of  thought  with  gracefulness  of  rhet- 
oric and  an  impressive  delivery.  While  pastor  here,  he 
was  invited  to  America  to  become  professor  of  the  German 
Reformed  Theological  Seminary  at  Mercersburg,  Pa.,  an 
honor  which  he  declined,  but  recommended  Rev.  Dr. 
Phillip  Schaff  in  his  place. 

The  King  of  Prussia,  who  had  once'heard  him  preach 
at  Elberfeld,  called  him  to  Berlin  in  1847,  to  be  the  suc- 
cessor of  Marheineke  at  the  Trinity  church.  The  King 
wanted  a  bold  champion  of  the  old  faith  to  offset  the  Ration- 


493 


alism  at  Berlin.  Krummacher  was  chosen,  for  he  with  his 
father  and  uncle  was  one  of  the  few  uncompromising  wit- 
nesses of  evangelical  truth  of  which  Germany  could  boast. 
Just  before  that  time  he  had  preached  a  sermon  in  his 
father's  church  at  Bremen  against  Rationalism  which  had 
caused  a  great  commotion.  His  text  had  been,  ^'  But 
though  we  or  an  angel  from  heaven  preach  any  other 
gospel  than  that  which  we  have  preached,  let  him  be 
accursed."  Gal.  1  :  8-9.  In  his  zeal  against  those  whom 
he  called  "  the  prophets  of  Baal  of  this  century,"  he  pro- 
nounced the  apostle's  curse  on  the  whole  anti-Christian 
spirit  of  this  age.  The  sermon  led  the  majority  of  the 
orthodox  clergy  of  Bremen  to  adopt  an  orthodox  confes- 
sion, so  as  to  prevent  Rationalists  from  entering  their  pul- 
pit. He  w^as  therefore  the  man  to  bear  witness  for  the 
truth  in  Berlin.  The  Rationalists  there  of  course  gave 
him  a  frigid  reception.  His  congregation  was  at  first  made 
up  mainly  of  women,  and  he  often  looked  back  with  long- 
ing to  the  W'armth  and  sympathy  he  had  had  in  the  Wup- 
perthal.  Soon  however  his  church  began  to  fill  up,  as 
Christians  of  various  ranks  began  to  attend  his  services. 
When  the  revolution  of  1840  broke  out,  he  urg^ed  Home 
Missions  as  the  panacea  for  all  social  evils.  He  labored 
to  form  the  Church  Diet,  and  was  one  of  its  committee. 

In  1853  the  King  appointed  him  court  preacher  at 
Potsdam.  Here  he  found  barren  soil,  but  his  tact  and 
ability  soon  built  up  a  strong  congregation.  He  here 
preached  his   famous  sermons  on   David  the  King.     He 


494  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

took  an  active  interest  in  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  and 
contributed  greatly  to  the  success  of  its  meeting  at  Berlin 
in  1857.  He  attended  the  different  conferences  of  the 
Alliance  until  his  death.  From  its  meeting  in  Paris  he 
wrote :  '^  In  Paris  I  became  young  again  like  an  eagle. 
It  was  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  blessed  concentration.'' 
Like  Elijah^  of  whom  he  had  preached  so  eloquently,  he 
had  his  ascension  to  heaven  on  December  10,  1868.  He 
was  a  poet,  as  well  as  a  preacher,  and  wrote  some  hymns. 
The  best  are :  "  Behalte  mich  in  deiner  Pflege,''  in  the 
third  volume  of  his  Elisha,  ^^Als  das  grosse  Halljahr 
bricht  herein,''  and  '^  Der  vom  Holze  du  regierest,"  "  Du 
Stern  in  alien  Nsechten." 

He  was  a  rare  combination  of  qualities,  fitting  him  to 
become  the  leading  preacher  of  his  age  and  land.  At  the 
eightieth  birthday  of  Goethe,  Thorwaldsen,  the  great 
sculptor,  met  him  at  Frankford  and  was  attracted  by  his 
noble  forehead  and  appearance,  and  asked  him  :  "Are 
you  an  artist  ?"  "  No,  a  theologian,"  was  his  reply. 
"  How  can  one  be  only  a  theologian  ?"  said  Thorwaldsen. 
And  yet  Krummacher,  who  carved  eternal  ideas  in  souls, 
as  Thorwaldsen  had  in  stone,  was  an  artist  of  the  first 
rank,  greater  than  that  sculptor  with  all  his  gems  of 
thought  in  marble.  "  In  his  pulpit,"  says  Schaff,  "  he 
was  bold  and  fearless  as  a  lion,  at  home  as  gentle  and 
amiable  as  a  lamb — a  millionaire  in  images  and  illustra- 
tions, which  were  an  embarrassment  of  riches  in  his  ser- 
mons, like  Jeremy  Taylor's." 


CHAPTER  IV.— SECTION  VIII. 

HERMAN  F.  KOHLBRUEGGE. 

Another  great  leader  of  Pietism  and  opponent  of 
Rationalism  was  Kohlbriigge.  He  was  one  of  the  strong- 
est intellects  in  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany  in  this 
century — the  only  one  who  formed  a  distinct  school  of 
theology.  He  was  born  August  15,  1803,  at  Amsterdam^ 
It  was  his  grandmother  whose  influence  developed  the 
spirituality  of  the  boy.  In  her  house  there  was  a  large 
fireside  which  was  covered  with  a  painted  pavement.  On 
these  were  Biblical  pictures,  and  the  boy  would,  like 
Doddridge,  sit  by  the  hours  before  them,  and  have  them 
explained  by  his  grandmother.  He  early  revealed  great 
precocity,  but  his  studies  were  interrupted  by  sickness  and 
poverty,  which  compelled  him  to  work.  When  sixteen, 
he  again  began  regular  study.  But  at  the  university  of 
Amsterdam  he  became  so  immersed  in  classical  studies, 
that  his  Bible  lost  its  power.  Then  came  the  sickness  and 
death  of  his  father  as  a  call  to  bring  him  back  to  the  old 
faith.  He  then  entered  the  ministry  of  the  Lutheran 
Church.  He  preached  at  Loenen  near  Amsterdam,  and 
with  burning  eloquence  proclaimed  the  old  doctrines  of 
man's  fall  and  God's  grace.     But   such  preaching  roused 


496  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

opposition,  for  the  wealthy  and  noble,  who  usually  were  in 
the  consistory,  had  gone  over  to  Rationalism,  and  one  of 
his  co-pastors  bitterly  denied  the  old  faith.  So  he  was 
dismissed  after  three  months  service.  But  although  per- 
secuted for  God's  sake,  he  was  wonderfully  blessed.  He 
then  married  a  lady  of  means  who  belonged  to  this 
congregation.  As  he  had  no  parish,  he  began  anew  the 
study  of  church  history  and  theology.  The  study  of  Cal- 
vin led  him  to  accept  Predestination,  and  of  Olevianus  to 
receive  the  Reformed  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 
Since  he  was  no  longer  Lutheran  in  faith,  he  sought 
admission  to  the  Reformed  Church  of  Holland.  But  that 
Church,  alas,  was  deeply  sunk  in  Rationalism  too,  and 
although  negotiations  continued  from  1830  to  1832,  they 
refused  to  receive  him  on  the  mere  technicality  that  they 
desired  a  certificate  of  morals,  which  the  Lutherans  refused 
to  give.  How  sadly  does  Rationalism  persecute  God's 
servants.  The  church  in  which  he  was  born  rejected  him, 
and  the  Church  whose  doctrine  he  now  believed  refused 
him.  But  he  was  not  without  friends,  for  the  leaders  of 
the  revival  in  Holland  were  his  warm  friends,  and  he 
attended  their  conventicles.  They  wanted  him  to  join 
their  CJiurch  and  become  a  leader  among  those  who  had 
thus  separated  from  the  State  Church.  But  just  then  the 
death  of  his  wife  brought  him  ill  health  and  his  physician 
ordered  him  to  travel.  So  he  happened  in  the  providence 
of  God  to  come  to   Elberfeld  in    the  summer  of  1833. 


KOHLBRUEGGE  AT  ELBERFELD.         497 

Here  lie  found  a  district  that  Rationalism  bad  not 
entered.  The  best  and  richest  families  considered  it  the 
highest  honor  to  have  some  position  in  the  Church.  The 
churches  were  filled  with  people,  and  in  smaller  circles 
many  w^ould  gather  to  talk  over  the  sermon.  Hymns 
were  often  heard  in  the  homes  and  the  factories.  And  in 
many  a  hut,  where  the  weaver's  chair  allowed  hardly 
room  to  sit,  they  knew  how  to  talk  about  the  grace  of 
God.  iVlthough  cast  out  by  the  Dutch,  he  was  received 
with  honor  here,  and  preached  sixteen  times.  A  great 
awakening  had  taken  place  at  Elberfeld  under  the  preach- 
ing of  G.  D.  Krummacher.  There  was,  however,  a  dif- 
ference between  Krummacher's  and  Kohlbrligge's  preach- 
ing. Krummacher  emphasized  the  law  and  conviction  of 
sin.  Kohlbriigge  emphasized  the  forgiving  grace  of  God. 
His  friends  were  so  pleased  with  him  that  they  tried  to 
have  him  enter  the  ministry  of  the  Reformed  Church  of 
that  province,  so  that  he  might  be  appointed  to  a  vacant 
church  near  Elberfeld.  But  the  Prussian  minister  of 
worship,  fearing  Kohlbrligge's  opposition  to  the  union  of 
the  Reformed  and  Lutheran  Churches  and  to  the  intro- 
duction of  the  Prussian  liturgy,  refused  and  forbade  him 
to  preach  any  more  in  any  pulpit  in  the  Rhine  provinces. 
Rejected  now  the  third  time  by  the  Church,  he  returned 
to  Holland,  but  kept  up  a  correspondence  with  his  friends 
at  Elberfeld.  He  was  asked  by  those,  who  separated 
from  the  State  Church  in   Holland   in  1839,   and   formed 


498  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

the  Christian  Reformed  Church,  to  join  them.  But  he 
declined,  because  he  did  not  want  to  belong  to  what  he 
considered  a  separatistic  Church.  When  he  was  called  to 
Elberfeld  as  pastor  in  1848,  Kohlbriigge  continued  as  a 
mighty  witness  for  the  old  Reformed  faith.  His  pub- 
lished sermons  gave  him  a  wide  influence.  They  were 
translated  into  English  and  Bohemian.  He  died  at 
Elberfeld,  March  5,  1837,  after  a  pastorate  there  of 
thirty-seven  years. 


CHAPTER   lY.— SECTION   IX. 
PRESENT  PIETISTIC  MOVEMENTS. 

The  Reformed  Church  of  Germany  still  reveals  its 
Pietistic  position.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  a  year 
or  two  ago  the  Johanneum  was  removed  from  Bonn  to 
Elberfeld.  This  institution  was  a  school  for  evangelists, 
founded  by  the  late  Professor  Christlieb  in  1886.  For 
Christlieb  felt  that  the  best  antidote  for  Rationalism  v/as 
earnest  Pietism.  Its  aim  was  to  prepare  city  missionaries 
and  evangelists,  who  would  produce  a  revival  in  the 
churches  of  Germany.  After  Professor  Christlieb's  death 
it  was  found  that  it  was  not  located  where  its  supporters 
were.  So  Reformed  Elberfeld  was  chosen  as  above  all 
others  the  place  in  fullest  sympathy  with  such  evangelis- 
tic movements.  If  now  the  Reformed  of  Germany  were 
not  in  sympathy  with  such  aggressive  movements,  why 
was  it  located  there  ?  Its  removal  to  Elberfeld,  the  centre 
of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany  to-day,  is  a  striking 
proof  of  the  pietistic  character  of  the  Reformed  Church. 

Another  very  significant  sign  are  the  catechism  prayer 
meetings  held  at  Barmen  and  Meurs,  where  the  laity 
come  together.     After  selecting  an  answer  and  a  question 


500  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

of  our  catechism,  they   talk   it  over,  intermingling  their 

conversation  with  prayer  and  singing."^ 

That  this  evangelistic  spirit  has  spread  into  other  parts 

of  the  Reformed   Church  of  Germany,   is  shown  by  the 

following  extract  taken  from  a  German  religious   paper  a 

f^w  years  ago : 

"  The  Rev.  E.  Schrenk,  of  Marburg,  formerly  a  for- 
eign missionary  and  more  recently  connected  with  the 
Berne  Evangelical  Reformed  Society  in  Switzerland,  has 
given  himself  to  evangelical  work  in  Germany.  He  works 
wholly  within  the  Church.  He  was  called  to  Cassel  in 
Hesse  last  winter  by  thirteen  clergymen  and  members  of 
the  Royal  Consistory,  and  held  tw^o  services  a  day  for 
eighteen  days.  The  great  Martin  church  (Reformed)  was 
filled,  and  afterward  a  still  larger  Lutheran  church.  The 
daily  morning  Bible  readings  filled  to  repletion  the  rooms 
of  the  Youno^  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  had  to  be 
moved  to  the  Bruder  church.  The  evening  evangelistic 
services  were  often  attended  by  about  three  thousand  per- 
sons. Two  thousand  men,  and  young  men,  attended  a 
separate  meeting  for  men  only.     On  the  last  evening  three 

*  We  have  just  received  a  letter  from  Barmen,  describing  such  a  meeting. 
The  meetings  take  place  every  two  weeks  on  Sunday  evening  at  six  o'clock. 
Only  men  are  present.  The  meeting  is  opened  by  the  singing  of  a  Psalm, 
then  a  chapter  of  the  Old  Testament  is  read.  (The  Old  Testament  is  read 
consecutively  in  each  meeting).  The  senior  member  present  requests  one  to 
lead  in  prayer.  Then  follows  the  consideration  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism, 
of  which  at  each  meeting  one  question  is  taken  up  and  discussed.  The  ques- 
tions are  taken  up  consecutively.  In  this  discussion  each  one  of  the  members 
may  take  part  in  a  free  and  unrestrained  manner.  These  meetings  result  in 
great  blessing  for  the  everyday  life.  The  meeting  is  closed  at  eight  o'clock, 
and  after  the  singing  of  a  hymn,  prayer  and  the  reading  of  another  passage 
of  Scripture  suitable  to  the  subject  of  the  discussion,  they  separate  with  the 
joyful  consciousness  of  having  spent  a  few  blessed  hours,  sanctified  through 
the  Spirit  of  God,  in  brotherly  communion. 


REFORMED    PIETISM.  501 

of  the  city  clergy  took  part  in  the  service  ;  eleven  min- 
isters signed  a  letter  of  thanks  to  him ;  and  the  secular 
papers  spoke  in  high  terms  of  his  good  labors." 

Thus  the  Reformed  Church  of  the  Northern  Rhine 

has  ever  been  and  still   is   a   noble  witness   against  all 

Rationalism,  and  by  her  Pietism  and   evangelization  a 

tremendous  power  for  the  upbuilding  of  God^s  kingdom 

in  the  fatherland. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

INDITIDUAL  ANSWERS   TO   RATIONALISM  IN 
OTHER  PARTS  OF  GERMAN  F. 

I*^ot  only  from  the  Reformed  region  of  the  Northern 
Rhine  were  voices  lifted  np  against  Rationalism.  In  the 
Reformed  churches  in  other  parts  of  Germany  a  bold  tes- 
timony was  borne  against  it.  One  of  the  most  promi- 
nent Reformed  strongholds  in  Germany  was  Bremen. 
Although  Rationalism  gained  control  here  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  last  century,  yet  Menken  led  a  mighty  move- 
ment against  it,  which  resulted  in  turning  the  city 
toward  orthodoxy.  We  have  already  described  Menken, 
and  will  now  mention  several  others  who  aided  him. 

SECTION  I. 

GEORGE  GOTTFRIED  TREVIRANUS. 

He  was  born  at  Bremen,  January  12,  1788.  His 
family  was  originally  from  Treves,  but  had  been  driven 
out  with  Oleviauus.  His  great-grandfather  liad  been 
Lampe's  successor  as  pastor  at  St.  Stephen's  church  at 
Bremen.  He  was  catechized  by  a  rationalistic  pastor  in 
1802  and  attended  the  gymnasium  there,  where  he  seems 
to  have  read  everything  but  the  Bible,  of  which  he  did 


TREYIRANUS'    CONVERSIONS'.  503 

not  have  a  German  copy.  He  then  attended  Goettingen 
university,  which  was  full  of  Rationalism.  One  day, 
however,  a  strange  desire  came  to  him  to  get  a  German 
Bible,  as  he  remembered  once  hearing  Menken  preach  a 
sermon  praising  its  beauties.  He  then  began  to  read  it 
regularly  with  the  prayer,  ""  Lord,  open  Thou  mine  eyes.'' 
When  he  preached  before  his  professor  of  homiletics,  the 
latter  found  fault  with  him  for  being  too  Biblical.  And 
when  he  went  to  the  pastor  at  Goettingen,  to  tell  him  that 
he  wished  to  commune  with  his  congregation,  the  pastor 
replied,  "You  are  the  first  student  in  a  long  series  of 
years  that  has  communed."  Thus  through  the  reading  of 
the  Bible  he  was  changed  into  an  evangelical  Christian. 
He  then  studied  at  Tubingen,  which  was  orthodox,  and 
there  he  learned  to  still  more  highly  honor  the  Bible,  as 
many  of  his  doubts  were  being  scattered.  On  May  1, 
1811,  he  was  ordained  in  the  Liebfrau  church  at  Bremen. 
When  the  minister's  hand  was  laid  on  his  head,  he  was 
so  overcome  that  he  did  not  hear  his  benediction.  Only 
Menken's  Avords  came  to  him,  "  Love  Christ,  for  He  first 
loved  you." 

He  became  pastor  at  a  church  near  Bremen,  but  was 
called  to  Bremen  in  1818,  as  pastor  of  St.  Martin's 
church,  and  assistant  to  Menken.  Although  not  so  pro- 
found as  Menken,  yet  he  excelled*  especially  in  the  practical 
activities  of  the  ministry.  He  was  secretary  of  the  Bremen 
Bible  Society,  and  started  a  Sunday  school  in  1834.     He 


504  THE    REFOKMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

became  active  also  in  the  society  for  released  convicts. 
For,  one  Sunday  evening,  a  soldier,  who  was  a  drunkard^ 
visited  him.  Through  Treviranus'  efforts  he  was  saved 
from  drink  by  the  grace  of  God.  He  in  turn  brought 
another  officer  to  him  who  desired  to  know  Christ.  As 
the  latter  became  sick,  Treviranus  visited  him  frequently, 
and  preached  his  funeral  sermon.  These  incidents  led  him 
to  begin  his  work  among  the  soldiers,  so  that  he  was 
finally  appointed  garrison  chaplain,  as  the  soldiers  had  no 
one  to  look  after  their  religious  interests  before.  He 
retained  this  position  till  1849.  He  also  founded  a  society 
to  aid  emigration  to  America,  as  his  friend  Wyncken  was 
pastor  at  Fort  AYayne,  Indiana.  He  was  one  of  the  first 
to  aid  in  organizing  a  branch  society  for  Home  Missions, 
and  then  started  evening  services  (a  custom  till  then 
unknown  in  Bremen).  He  was  made  president  of  the 
jSTorth  German  Missionary  Society.  He  was  greatly 
encouraged  to  find  that  the  number  of  evangelical  pastors 
in  Bremen  was  increasing,  as  Mallet,  Krummacher,  Iken 
and  others  came  in  to  aid  him.  In  the  autumn  of  1866, 
he  ascended  his  pulpit  in  the  St.  Martin's  church  for  the 
last  time,^as  he  was  made  pastor  emeritus.  The  congre- 
gation elected  Schwalb  as  his  successor,  who  soon  revealed 
himself  as  a  most  blatant  Rationalist,  and  who,  on  account 
of  this,  was  finally  compelled  to  resign  last  year.  He 
therefore  did  not  attend  his  former  church  any  more,  but 
went  to  St.  Stephen's  church,  while  the  orthodox  elements 


DEATH    OF   TREVIRANUS.  505 

of  his  congregation  scattered  among  the  other  churches. 
He  still  retained  his  interest  in  missions  until  his  death  in 
1868.  He  was  a  man  of  great  faith  and  wisdom,  and 
circumspection,  and  full  of  practical  gifts.  It  was  at  his 
house  that  Rev.  Dr.  Schaff  found  the  first  edition  of  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism  in  1864.  This  was  a  valuable 
discovery,  as  all  the  previous  translations  of  the  catechism 
had  been  made  after  the  third  edition. 


33 


CHAPTER  v.— SECTION  II. 
FREDERICK  ADOLPH  KRUMMACHER. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  famous  Krummacher  family, 
of  whom  we  have  already  spoken — a  brother  of  Gottfried 
Daniel  and  father  of  Frederick  William.  He  was  born 
in  Tecklenbiirg,  July  13,  1787,  and  attended  the  small 
Eeformed  university  of  Lingen.  Then  he  w^ent  to  Halle, 
where  he  studied  under  the  pious  Knapp  and  the  blas- 
phemous Bahrdt.  After  that  he  became  rector  of  the 
gymnasium  at  Hamm  in  1790,  Avhere  he  became  intimate 
wdth  tw^o  Reformed  ministers,  who  afterwards  became 
prominent  in  Prussia,  Snethlage  and  Eylert.  He  w^as 
called  as  professor  of  theology  to  the  university  at  Duis- 
burg.  But  the  university  w^as  small,  and  the  professor 
could  count  himself  fortunate  if  he  had  four  or  five  stu- 
dents. Here  he  wrote  his  '^  Parables,'^  which  gave  him  a 
wide  reputation.  (To  distinguish  him  from  the  other 
members  of  his  famous  family,  he  was  generally  called 
Parable-Krummacher.)  As  an  illustration  of  them,  we 
give  his  beautiful  parable  of  Death  and  Sleep :  ^'  The 
Angel  of  Death  and  the  Angel  of  Sleep  wandered  in 
fraternal  unity  over  the  world.  It  was  evening.  They 
rested  on  a  hill,  not  far  from  the  habitations  of  man.  A 
placid  calmness  prevailed  every  w4iere,  even  the  sound  of  the 


507 


curfew  ceased  in  the  distant  hamlet.  Calmly  and  silently, 
as  is  their  wont,  the  two  beneficent  angels  of  mankind 
held  each  other  embraced  until  night  approached.  Then 
the  Angel  of  Sleep  arose  from  his  mossy  seat  and  strewed 
with  noiseless  hands  the  invisible  seeds  of  slumber.  The 
evening  breeze  carried  them  to  the  quiet  dwellings  of  the 
tired  country  people,  and  sweet  sleep  descended  on  the 
dwellers  in  their  rural  huts,  from  the  old  man  with  his 
crutch,  to  the  babe  in  the  cradle.  The  sick  once  more 
forgot  their  pains,  the  troubled  soul  her  grief,  and  poverty 
her  cares  ;  for  every  eye  was  closed.  Now  his  task  being 
done,  the  beneficent  Angel  of  Sleep  returned  to  his  graver 
brother.  "  When  the  light  of  morning  arises,"  he 
exclaimed  with  innocent  joy,  "  then  mankind  will  praise 
me  as  their  friend  and  benefactor.  What  a  blessing  to  do 
good  in  secret !  How  happy  are  we,  the  invisible  messen- 
gers of  the  Good  Spirit !  How  beautiful  our  silent  calling  !'' 
"  The  An^el  of  Death  o^azed  at  him  with  a  look  of  soft 
melancholy,  and  a  tear,  such  a.«  immortal  beings  shed, 
glistened  in  his  large  dark  eyes.  "Alas,  said  he,  "  would 
that  I  could  enjoy  cheerful  gratitude  like  thee.  The 
world  calls  me  her  enemy  and  disturber."  "  O,  my 
brother,"  replied  the  Angel  of  Sleep,  ^'  will  not  at  the 
awakening,  the  good  man  acknowledge  thee  as  his  friend 
and  benefactor,  and  gratefully  bless  thee  ?  Are  we  not 
brethren  and  messengers  of  one  Father  ?"  When  he  thus 
spoke,  the  eye  of  the  Angel  of  Death  glistened  brightly, 
and  the  fraternal  spirits  embraced  with   renewed  tender- 


508  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

ness/'  These  parables  were  such  simple,  quaint  allegories, 
based  on  the  teachings  of  nature  and  the  stories  of  Scrip- 
ture, that  they  became  classic  in  Germany. 

The  university  of  Duisburg  went  down  under  the 
French  rule.  So  he  accepted  a  call  to  Bernburg,  where 
he  became  superintendent  of  the  Reformed  church. 
While  here,  there  occurred  an  awakening,  which  aifected 
him  and  changed  him  from  being  an  aesthetic  Christian 
of  the  Herder  school  to  an  earnest,  outspoken  Christian 
against  Rationalism.  The  King  of  Prussia  offered  him  a 
professorship  of  theology  at  the  newly  founded  university 
of  Bonn,  but  owiuff  to  a  severe  affection  of  the  eyes  at 
the  time,  he  did  not  accept  it.  When  the  union  of  the 
Lutheran  and  the  Reformed  Churches  was  introduced 
into  Anhalt  in  1824,  he  opposed  it.  The  Duke  of  Anhalt 
then  became  cool  to  him  on  account  of  his  leanings  toward 
Pietism  and  his  opposition  to  the  union.  So  he  was  glad 
to  accept  a  call  to  be  one  of  the  pastors  of  the  St.  Ans- 
gari  church  at  Bremen.  Here  he  was  highly  respected  by 
the  people,  and  received  the  name  from  them  of  "  the  lit- 
tle father.'^  He  was  not  the  orator  that  his  colleague 
Draseke  was,  but  he  gained  great  influence  by  his  pastoral 
labors  and  his  peculiar  influence  over  the  young.  He 
died  April  4,  1845,  after  being  pastor  there  for  nineteen 
years.  He  w^as  a  scholarly  man,  of  thoughtful,  poetical 
nature.  He  was  the  author  of  a  number  of  excellent 
hymns,  as  the  missionary  hymn,  "  Eine  Heerde  und  ein 
Hirt" — ''  One  Shepherd  and  one  Fold  to  be." 


CHAPTER  v.— SECTION  III. 
FREDERICK  L.  MALLET. 

A  mighty  witness  for  God  against  Rationalism  at 
Bremen  was  Mallet.  He  was  born  August  4,  1792,  at 
Braunfels,  where  his  father,  a  Huguenot  by  descent,  was 
secretary  to  the  Count  of  Solms.  His  pastor,  Herman 
Muller,  noticed  the  uncommon  talents  of  the  ten-year-old 
boy,  and  when  Mallet's  father  died,  he  cared  for  him  as  a 
father.  When  Muller  was  called  to  the  St.  Stephen's 
church,  Bremen,  he  took  young  Mallet  with  him.  It 
was  Muller's  piety  that  awakened  piety  in  the  young 
man.  He  was  sent  to  the  universities  of  Herborn  and 
Tubingen,  where  as  yet  a  young  man  could  study  without 
any  danger  of  Rationalism.  Both  professors  and  students 
held  prayer  meetings  at  Tubingen.  He  did  not,  there- 
fore, have  to  pass  through  the  great  conflicts  of  soul  that 
Menken  and  others  did  in  the  university. 

In  1815  he  became  assistant  pastor  at  St.  MichaPs,  a 
suburb  of  Bremen.  His  ability  as  an  orator  soon  led  to 
a  call  in  1827  to  St.  Stephen's  in  Bremen,  where  he 
became  assistant  to  his  foster-father  Muller,  and  when 
the  latter  died  in  1839,  he  was  elected  senior  pastor. 
Here  his  fine  gifts  found  a  suitable  field.     For  he   was  a 


510  THE   REFOKMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

man  of  fiery  eloquence  and  joyful,  enthusiastic  faith.  He 
had  a  fine  appearance — "  a  real  Luther-head/'  as  F.  W. 
Krummacher  used  to  say.  He  endeavored  to  work 
against  Kationalism  by  editing  a  Church  paper,  the 
''Bremen  Church  Messenger,"  and  later  the  ''Bremen 
Post."  These  exerted  great  influence,  not  only  in  Bremen, 
but  in  the  neighboring  'districts  of  Oldenburg  and  Hano- 
ver. He  had  once,  when  in  the  university,  taken  up  the 
sword  in  war  against  France,  and  he  now  took  up  the 
spiritual  sword  against  the  Rationalists.  Hamburg  was 
burned  in  1844,  and  he  preached  a  penitential  sermon  on 
it,  which  led  Stahr  of  Oldenburg  to  protest  against  it  in 
the  name  of  humanity.  In  1844,  when  Nagel,  one  of  the 
pastors  at  Bremen,  declared  in  a  daily  paper  that  it  was 
now  proved  that  there  was  neither  a  heaven  nor  a  hell. 
Mallet  brought  the  matter  before  the  Ministerium.  But 
Nagel  appealed  to  the  Senate,  where  he  w^as  protected. 
Meanwhile  there  arose  a  literary  strife  about  it.  Stahr 
and  an  Oldenburg  literateur,  Kobbe,  joined  in  the  attack 
on  Mallet.  He  wrote  a  biting  satire  on  them,  revealing 
Eationalism's  weakness.  And  in  a  number  of  other  writings 
he  boldly  attacked  Rationalism.  Thus  he  became  unpop- 
ular with  many,  and  had  to  bear  much  ridicule.  He  was 
impersonated  at  one  of  the  theatres,  to  the  great  amuse- 
ment of  the  populace  and  the  joy  of  his  enemies.  His 
greatest  conflict  took  place  in  1848,  when  Bremen 
changed  its  politics  and  Dulon  was  elected  pastor  in   the 


mallet's  activity.  511 

Liebfrau  church — a  man  pantheistic  in  theology  and 
revolutionary  in  politics.  Dulon's  sermons  against  prop- 
erty owners  and  nobles  soon  caused  a  sensation.  Mallet 
wrote  against  him,  and  when  Dulon  tried  to  get  influence 
in  Mallet's  congregation,  so  as  to  Avork  against  Mallet,  he 
boldly  attacked  him  in  pamphlets.  Dulon's  conduct 
toward  him  in  the  Ministerium  was  so  severe,  that  he 
declared  he  would  leave  that  body,  but  the  Senate  would 
not  accept  his  resignation.  Then  came  the  return  tide  in 
politics  in  1852,  when  Dulon  was  dismissed.  This  con- 
troversy led  Mallet  to  prepare  a  petition  from  the  Minis- 
terium to  the  Senate,  asking  that  the  Bremen  church 
might  be  guaranteed  its  safety  in  the  future  from  such 
adventurers  in  theology.  But  the  indiiference  of  the^ 
rulers  prevented  this  from  being  carried  out.  He,  how- 
ever, succeeded  in  having  'an  orthodox  creed  drawn  up 
for  his  own  church,  so  as  to  prevent  any  Ration- 
alists from  getting  in  there.  He  also  aimed  to  oppose 
Rationalism  by  developing  the  practical  activities  of  the 
churclL  He  w^as  one  of  the  founders  of  the  North  Ger- 
man Missionary  Society  in  1819,  and  had  a  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  in  his  own  congregation.  He  was  one  Oi 
the  presidents  of  the  Bremen  Tract  Society  in  1826.  He 
was  the  founder  of  the  first  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation in  Germany  in  1834.  The  first  Y.  M.  C.  A.  was 
founded  at  Basle  in  1768  (seventy-six  years  before  George 
Williams  founded  his  in  London),  by  a  Reformed  pastor 


512  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

named  Meyenrock.  It  dissolved  when  its  founder  died, 
about  1820,  but  was  revived  again  in  1825.  Mallet  came 
in  contact  with  it  when  on  a  visit  to  Switzerland  in  1833. 
He  at  once  founded  a  similar  society  at  Bremen,  which 
was  imitated  by  other  places  in  Germany,  so  that  when 
George  Williams  founded  his  association  in  England, 
there  were  at  least  seven  associations  in  Germany.  In  1841 
he  had  great  joy  in  dedicating  the  Concordia,  a  build- 
ing which  was  to  be  the  religious  centre  of  Bremen,  where 
the  Tract  Society,  the  Sunday  school  and  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
societies  could  have  rooms.  He  endorsed  prayer  meetings 
in  his  Church  paper,  for  he  said  :  ^^  Conventicles  are  not 
only  allowed,  but  necessary.''  He  died  in  1865.  Before 
he  died,  he  quoted  : 

"  Jesus,  Thy  blood  and  righteousness, 
My  beauty  are,  my  glorious  dress." 

His  last  words  were  :  "  Christ  is  my  life." 


CHAPTER  Y.— SECTION  IV. 

JOHN  GEIBEL. 

There  were  several  other  Reformed  ministers  in  the 
northern  part  of  Germany,  who  bore  witness  against 
Rationalism.  The  Lutheran  superintendent,  Zahn, 
declared  that  '^  while  the  Lutheran  Church  had  gone  to 
sleep  on  the  arms  of  spiritual  death,  three  Reformed  min- 
isters bore  their  witness  for  Christ,  as  the  only  Savior  of 
a  lost  world.  These  three  were  Menken  of  Bremen, 
d'Aubigne  of  Hamburg,  and  Geibel  of  Lubeck."  Others 
might  have  been  mentioned,  as  Palmis  and  Roquette  at 
Stettin,  and  Metgar  at  Stolp.  The  life  of  d'Aubigne,  the 
author  of  the  famous  History  of  the  Reformation,  does 
not  properly  belong  to  Germany,  but  to  Switzerland. 
We  can  but  refer  to  his  brief  stay  of  seven  years  as  pastor 
of  the  French  Reformed  church  at  Hamburg,  where  he 
again  brought  the  old  forgotten  gospel  to  his  congrega- 
tion. In  that  most  rationalistic  of  cities  he  bore  his  testi- 
mony for  the  truth  and  exerted  a  wide  influence,  espe- 
cially on  the  upper  classes.  Of  course  the  Rationalists 
bitterly  opposed  him,  but  his  consistory  stood  by  him. 
However,  when  vindicated  by  them,  he  resigned  and  went 
to  Brussels,  and  afterward  to  Geneva,  where  he  published 
his  famous  history. 


514  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

Passing  still  farther  aloug  the  north  coast  of  Ger- 
many, we  come  to  Lubeck.  In  this  most  Lutheran  of 
cities  a  Reformed  congregation  had  been  formed  in  1666 
of  French  refugees.  This  French  church  had  become 
German,  and  its  pastor  in  this  age  of  Rationalism  (1798- 
1847)  was  John  Geibel.  He  was  born  at  Hanau,  April 
1,  1776,  and  attended  the  university  of  Marburg,  where 
he  formed  a  very  close  friendship  for  Daub.  He  came  to 
Lubeck  as  assistant  to  Butenbach,  who  had  been  a 
Rationalist.  But  Geibel,  although  not  yet  a  thoroughly 
experimental  Christian,  soon  put  new  life  into  the  con- 
gregation. He  was  now  himself  undergoing  severe  strug- 
gles. Daub  had  influenced  him  and  then  Schleiermacher, 
and  even  the  Plymouth  Brethren.  Jacoby  greatly 
influenced  him  (urging  him  to  gain  assurance  of  faith),  as 
did  Menken's  works.  Very  earnestly  did  he  study  the 
Bible,  until  in  1810  he  came  fully  to  a  positive  orthodox 
position.  On  the  first  of  January  of  that  year  he 
preached  on  Acts  4:  12.  ^^  There  is  salvation  in  none 
other,''  he  said.  He  wanted  to  know  nothing  but  the 
crucified  Christ.  From  that  time  Christ  and  justification 
by  faith  became  the  centre  of  his  life  and  preaching.  The 
Word  of  God  was  to  him  the  rule  of  faith,  and  he  wanted 
the  whole  Word  of  God,  not  the  pericopes.  As  all  the 
other  Lutheran  ministers  in  Lubeck  were  at  that  time 
Rationalists,  many  evangelical  Lutherans  attended  his 
services.     He  gained  great  reputation  as  a  pulpit  orator. 


geibel's  eloquence.  515 

Many  were  awakened  by  his  preaching,  even  ministers, 
who  had  never  been  converted.  Through  prayer  meet- 
ings and  free  conferences  of  Christians  at  his  home,  he 
increased  his  spiritual  influence.  Many  strangers  came 
to  Lubeck,  so  as  to  hear  his  eloquent  witness  for  the 
truth,  for  he  was  considered  one  of  the  most  successful 
champions  of  Biblical  orthodoxy  against  Rationalism. 
He  aided  in  founding  a  tract  and  missionary  society.  He 
issued  a  new  hymn  book  in  1832,  one  of  the  best  of  its 
time,  and  one  of  the  first  to  replace  the  rationalistic  hymn 
books  that  had  been  so  common.  His  popularity  became 
so  great,  that  on  his  twenty-fifth  anniversary  the  whole 
city  joined  with  the  congregation  in  making  a  present  of 
gold  to  him.  Because  he  had  so  many  Lutherans  coming 
to  his  service,  he  had  a  new  church  built  within  the  city. 
Gradually,  however,  his  audiences  lessened.  For  the 
novelty  of  his  preaching  had  passed  away.  Besides,  some 
of  the  Lutheran  pulpits  began  to  have  evangelical  preach- 
ers, so  that  many  of  his  Lutheran  attendants  returned  to 
their  own  churches.  He  resigned  in  1847,  when  the 
Lutheran  ministers,  as  well  as  his  own  Presbyterium,  pre- 
sented him  with  a  memorial.  He  died  suddenly,  July 
23,  1853.  He  was  a  faithful  witness  against  Rational- 
ism. When  one  of  his  sons  was  pastor  at  Brunswick  and 
was  opposed  by  his  associate,  Petri,  and  the  majority  of 
his  congregation,  the  father  came  and  preached  a  most 
powerful   sermon  against  Rationalism  on   1  Corinthians 


516  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

2:2.*  A  beautiful  illustration  in  his  life  is  told  of 
the  conversion  of  the  missionary  Hebich.  The  latter 
was  a  Lutheran,  and  came  to  Lubeck  prejudiced  against 
the  Reformed,  but  seeking  light,  for  he  had  not  yet  been 
converted.  Although  shy  of  the  R-eformed,  he  came 
under  the  influence  of  Geibel.  Geibel's  style  of  preaching 
was  new  to  him,  but  made  a  deep  impression  on  him,  and 
Geibel's  prayers,  which  were  talks  with  Jesus,  were  a 
revelation  to  him.  He  was  offended  at  first  by  such 
boldness  before  God,  but  heard  by  and  by  a  voice  saying 
to  him  :  ^^  This  is  that  same  Jesus,  in  which  thy  sins  are 
forgiven. '^  And  when  Hebich  began  to  feel  like  going  as 
a  foreign  missionary,  it  was  to  Geibel  he  went  for  advice, 
rather  than  to  the  Luthern  pastors.  Geibel  urged  him  to 
2:0.  Thus  from  Geibel  Hebich  gained  the  beo-innino-s  of 
his  useful  life  among  the  heathen.  One  of  Geibel's  sons 
was  the  famous  German  poet,  Emanuel  Geibel. 

*  The  Reformed  Confederation  of  Lower  Saxony  decided  against  his  son. 


CHAPTER  Y.— SECTIOlSr  Y. 
ANHALT  AND  LIPPE. 

These  two  small  Reformed  lands  in  Northern  Ger- 
many had  their  strnggles  and  their  defenders  of  the  faith. 
In  Auhalt  Rationalism  entered  and  gained  great  power. 
Bash uy sen,  the  superintendent  of  Zerbst,  went  so  far  as 
to  declare  that  reason,  from  which  the  Reformed  had 
demonstrated  their  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  was  not 
corrupted,  and  that  by  it  God's  Word  could  be  tested. 
But  the  old  faith  found  a  firm  defender  in  Samuel  L.  E. 
de  Marees,  who  became  Consistorialrath  in  1760  of  Des- 
sau and  court  preacher.  His  grandfather  had  fled  from 
Holland,  where  he  was  also  related  to  the  prominent 
Reformed  family  of  Maresius.  His  other  grandfather 
was  Professor  Mieg  of  Heidelberg.  He  bitterly  opposed 
the  Rationalism  of  Teller  at  Berlin,  but  aided  in  introduc- 
ing a  new  hymn  book,  whicli  allowed  new  hymns  in  it, 
but  was  not  rationalistic.  Rationalism,  however,  grad- 
ually gained  the  upper  hand  in  Anhalt. 

In  Lippe,  because  the  Reformed  students  attended 
Reformed  universities.  Rationalism  was  slower  in  enter- 
ing. But  gradually  some  Rationalists  appeared.  Lewis 
F.  Coelln,  appointed  superintendent  and   Consistorialrath 


518  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH   OF    GERMANY. 

by  Princess  Pauline,  was  a  Rationalist.  Gradually  other 
manuals  of  instruction  were  introduced  and  used  (instead 
of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism),  of  which  Coelln's  was 
rationalistic,  "  neither  Christian  nor  Reformed.'^  The 
manuals  did  not  attack  the  old  doctrines,  but  they  did 
worse,  they  did  not  mention  them.  Thus  Jesus  js  called 
"  the  Son  of  Mary,''  but  nothing  is  said  about  His  being 
^^the  Son  of  God."  In  1820  there  was  an  awakening  in 
the  churches.  And  there  was  this  remarkable  fact  about 
it,  that  the  greatest  awakening  took  place  in  congrega- 
tions which  were  most  decidedly  rationalistic. 

The  influence  of  this  revival  increased,  until  in  1844 
five  preachers,  tired  of  the  rationalistic  catechisms,  again 
used  the  Heidelberg,  and  protested  against  the  abolition 
of  the  oath,  which  had  required  ministers  to  subscribe  to 
the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  But  Rationalism  can  perse- 
cute like  Romanism,  and  the  Lippe  consistory  forbade  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism,  and  these  men  were  punished  as 
disturbers  of  the  peace.  As  a  result,  some  of  the  best 
Reformed  people  of  Lippe  emigrated  to  America,  rather 
than  give  up  tlieir  old  faith  and  their  old  catechism,  and 
settled  in  the  West  in  Missouri  and  Wisconsin.  But  the 
agitation  continued.  By  1848  the  five  orthodox  ministers 
had  increased  to  twelve.  They  again  made  an  effort  to 
reclaim  the  Church  back  to  orthodoxy  and  the  Heidel- 
berg Catechism.  In  1854  they  again  appeared  before 
the   private  councillor   of  their   Prince.       He,   however. 


LIPPE   BECOMES   ORTHODOX.  519 

answered  them  that  his  Prince  would  not  introduce  a  cate- 
chism like  the  Heidelberg,  which  called  the  mass  an 
idolatry,  because  of  fear  of  his  Romish  subjects.  The 
enemies  of  orthodoxy  were  therefore  rejoicing  already, 
but  the  next  councillor,  Oheimb,  restored  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism  and  also  the  old  Lippe  Church  Order  of  1684, 
as  the  creed  and  cultus  of  the  Church.  Thus  the  Lippe 
Church  regained  its  catechism  and  its  Reformed  con- 
sciousness, but  after  a  bitter  and  protracted  contest. 


CHAPTER  Y.— SECTION  VI. 

THE  FRENCH  CHURCHES. 

The  churches  planted  by  the  French  refugees  in  Ger- 
many, were  affected  by  the  French  Illuminism.  In  some 
places  their  churches  degenerated  into  mere  resorts  of 
fashion,  while  the  minister  preached  a  humanitarian  gos- 
pel, in  which  rhetoric  and  oratory  made  up  the  sermon, 
rather  than  the  Gospel.  The  best  tenor  of  the  town  was 
engaged  as  cantor  (singer),  and  they  had  the  finest  choir. 
Rationalism  then  found  them  an  easy  field  to  conquer. 
In  one  instance  the  congregation  askied  the  minister  to 
preach  not  what  he  believed,  but  what  they  believed. 
And  at  another  place  when  a  new  minister  was  about  to 
be  installed,  they  asked  the  question,  ''  Why  do  we  need  a 
minister  when  each  one  is  his  own  preacher," — a  very 
proper  question  for  Rationalism  to  ask,  but  one  that 
reveals  the  ultimate  end  of  infidelity,  namely,  that  each 
man  can  have  his  own  belief  and  does  not  need  any  church 
to  prescribe  its  creed  for  him.  This  influence  of  Ration- 
alism was  unfortunately  aided  by  the  edict  of  Frederick 
the  Great,  July  7,  1772,  which  registered  as  members  of 
the  French  colonies,  French  and  Austrian  soldiers  who 
had  been  taken  prisoners  in  his  wars,  but  did  not  want  to 


HUGUENOT  DEMORALIZATION.  521 

return  to  their  lands.  Although  most  of  them  were  Rom- 
anists, yet  they  were  registered  among  the  French  colonies 
of  Germany,  and  therefore  placed  in  the  French  churches. 
The  King  did  this  to  break  up  the  strict  church  disci- 
pline of  the  French  churches.  Thus  German  Lutherans, 
French  deserters,  even  monks,  nuns  and  Jesuits,  were 
introduced  into  connection  with  the  French  churches.  Of 
course  the  church  discipline,  of  which  the  French  churches 
prided  themselves,  w^as  broken  up.  Frederick  had  no 
sympathy  with  church  discipline.  He  declared,  ^^  that 
every  man  had  a  right  to  go  to  heaven  after  his  own  fash- 
ion.'^  He  opposed  the  authority  of  the  consistory,  calling 
the  consistory  at  Magdeburg  on  one  occasion,  "  a  consis- 
tory of  asses."  His  motto  was  :  '^  Always  King,  never 
priest."  If  any  member  of  the  French  churches  were 
punished,  he  had  but  to  appeal  to  the  King,  and  he 
w^ould  get  redress.  Under  such  circumstances  the  French 
churches  became  demoralized.  Rationalism  and  worldli- 
ness  came  in  together,  for  they  are  twins — the  one  of  the 
head,  the  other  of  the  life.  The  result  was  that  the  French 
churches  suffered  severely.  Thirty-five  French  colonies 
either  went  down  or  were  swallowed  up  in  German 
churches.  To  show  the  prevalence  of  Rationalism  in  the 
French  colony  in  Berlin,  the  following  illustrations  are 
given  :  The  annual  report  of  the  Orphans'  school  from 
1779 — 1812  does  not  mention  the  name  of  Jesus  or  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  is  referred  to  only  once. 
34 


522  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMAXY. 

In  the  report  of  the  opening  of  the  French  Theological 
Seminary  at  Berlin  in  1811,  no  mention  is  made  of  God 
and  of  His  Word  or  of  repentance  and  faith.  In  a  funeral 
sermon  by  Erman,  pastor  of  the  French  church  at  Berlin, 
preached  on  his  colleague,  October  15,  1778,  he  never 
referred  to  the  fact  that  he  was  a  preacher  of  Jesus  Christ. 
And  when  Erman  ordained  his  son,  April  1, 1781,  neither 
the  name  of  Jesus  nor  of  the  Holy  Ghost  came  into  the 
sermon.  The  students  of  the  seminary  were  taught  that 
culture  would  save  the  world  instead  of  the  gospel.  As  a 
result,  in  many  places  Rationalism  did  for  the  French 
churches  what  the  dragoons  of  Louis  XIV.  could  not  do. 
It  destroyed  the  bone  and  sinew  of  the  congregation.  Or- 
thodoxy and  Reformed  consciousness  all  seemed  lost. 

Yet  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  there  were  eloquent 
witnesses  for  the  truth  in  many  of  the  French  churches. 
Beausobre  bore  brave  testimony,  as  we  have  already  seen. 
So  did  Naude  and  others  at  Berlin.  There  were,  however, 
several  French  ministers  whose  efforts  are  quite  marked. 
The  first  was  Mark  Phillip  Louis  O'Bearn  at  Halle. 
Thus  in  the  very  city  where  Rationalism  first  started 
under  Wolff,  the  Reformed  Church  had  its  firm  witness 
for  the  truth.  No  wonder  the  Lutheran  Pietists  there 
were  very  fond  of  the  French  Reformed  Church,  because 
its  pastor  was  so  Biblical.  Although  Rationalism  cap- 
tured the  university,  and  its  influence  was  immense  in  the 
town,  yet  O'Bearn  still  kept  on  preaching  the  simple  gos- 


o'bEARN   at   HALLE.  523 

pel,  notwithstanding  its  overshadowing  influence.  Even 
when  the  German  Reformed  Church  there  was  honey- 
combed by  Rationalism  through  Pauli,  O'Bearn  still 
preached  the  old  gospel.  God  had  sent  this  Irishman  to 
preach  French  in  a  German  city.  His  maternal  grand- 
father was  a  son  of  Admiral  Duquesne  of  France,  who, 
when  offered  the  position  of  Marshall  by  King  Louis  XIV., 
if  he  would  join  the  Catholic  Church,  pointed  to  his  white 
hairs  and  said,  "  Your  majesty,  I  have  given  sixty  years 
to  what  is  Caesar's,  permit  me  that  I  give  to  God  what  is 
His."  He  received  permission  to  spend  his  last  days  in 
his  territory,  but  his  sons  left  France  for  their  faith.  His 
granddaughter  came  to  Halle  to  stay  with  an  old  sailor 
who  had  fought  under  Admiral  Duquesne  at  the  bombard- 
ment of  Algiers.  Here  an  Irish  nobleman  met  her,  and 
their  son  became  pastor  at  Halle.  O'Bearn's  witness  was 
as  bold  and  brave  as  that  of  his  great-grandfather.  Ad- 
miral Duquesne,  in  battle.  The  French,  when  they  took 
Halle  in  1809,  united  the  French  with  the  German  Re- 
formed church,  and  turned  the  French  church  into  a  ware- 
house. From  that  day  the  two  congregations  have 
remained  united,  and  worship  in  the  cathedral.  O'Bearn 
was  a  learned  man,  especially  in  the  Oriental  languages. 
His  learning  was  respected  by  the  Rationalists  as  his 
orthodoxy  and  spirituality  were  by  the  orthodox.  He  once 
preached  against  Schleiermacher's  doctrine  of  redemption, 
and  Schleiermacher,  when  asked  if  O'Bearn's  theory  was 


524  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

right,  replied  :  "  Not  the  theory,  but  the  love/^  O'Bearn 
died  April  28,  1809,  having  borne  his  testimony  at  Halle 
against  Kationalism  for  forty-seven  years.  It  is  an  inter- 
esting fact  that  this  Reformed  congregation  had  the  second 
Sunday  school  in  Germany  (the  first  in  the  Reformed 
Church),  which  was  started  in  1863,  although  some  Piet- 
ists had  gathered  some  children  together  twenty  years 
before  for  singing  and  prayer,  but  they  had  been  dispersed 
by  the  police. 

There  was  another  man  whom  God  sent  to  lead  back 
the  French  to  the  old  faith,  for  which  their  fathers  suf- 
fered so  much — John  Henry,  at  first  overseer  of  the  royal 
library  at  Berlin  and  then  pastor  at  Potsdam.  He  tried 
in  every  way  to  remind  the  French  of  their  old  Reformed 
inheritance.  To  remind  them  of  the  Reformed  faith  for 
which  their  ancestors  had  suffered,  he  published  at  his  own 
expense  "  The  Journal  of  Jean  Migault,"  a  wonderful 
record  of  the  sufferings  and  of  deliverance  of  one  of  the 
Huguenots.  At  the  festival  of  the  refugees,  October  29, 
1826,  he  preached  on  Romans  3:1,  warning  them  that 
God  would  spew  them  out  of  His  mouth,  if  they  gave  up 
their  old  faith.  He  endeavored  by  preaching  to  deepen 
their  love  for  the  old  Gallic  confession. 

His  son,  Paul  Emil  Henry,  followed  in  the  footsteps 
of  his  father.  He  was  born  at  Potsdam,  1792,  and  studied 
at  Geneva,  where  he  came  under  the  influence  of  the 
revival  there  in  1817.      He  was  called  as   pastor  of  the 


PAUL   HENRY   AT    BERLIN.  525 

French  church  at  Berlin  in  1826,  a  position  which  he  held 
till  his  death.  In  order  to  revive  the  Reformed  conscious- 
ness of  the  French,  he  published  (1835-44)  his  life  of  John 
Calvin  in  three  volumes.  It  was  a  work  of  great  research, 
but  "  rather  a  collection  of  material  for  a  biography  than 
a  good  biography.''  He  also  intended  to  publish  the 
letters  of  Calvin,  of  which  he  had  gathered  over  1400 
unknown  before,  but  his  death  prevented.  However, 
Bonnet  attempted  this  after  his  death.  He  also  had  the 
Gallic  confession  translated  into  German  and  reprinted 
(1845)  to  show  his  congregation  and  the  Germans  what 
their  fathers  believed.  He  was  president  of  the  French 
Theological  Seminary  at  Berlin  and  died  suddenly  after 
giving  the  students  a  lecture  on  philosophy.  He  was  a 
strong  Calvinist,  a  great  admirer  of  the  great  reformer. 


CHAPTER  v.— SECTION  VII. 
PROFESSOR  J.  C.  G.  KRAFFT.* 

Professor  Krafft  was  a  mighty  witness  for  the  truth, 
for  he  not  merely  led  to  a  revival  of  the  Reformed  Church 
of  Bavaria,  but  also  of  the  great  Lutheran  Church  of  that 
kingdom.  He  was  born  December  12, 1784,  at  Duisburg. 
There  he  came  under  the  influence  of  Rationalism.  He 
then  became  a  private  teacher  at  Frankford,  where  his 
uncle,  the  pastor  of  the  German  Reformed  church,  exerted 
a  good  influence  over  him  in  bringing  him  back  to  the  old 
faith.  He  then  became  pastor  of  a  little  Reformed  con- 
gregation at  Weeze,  near  Cleve,  1808.  His  pastorate 
there  w^as  filled  with  struggles  in  his  mind  to  quiet  his 
doubts.  He  was  glad  to  be  called  as  professor  at  Erlangen, 
1818,  as  it  would  give  him  more  time  to  settle  his  theological 
views.  He  dates  his  conversion  from  the  year  1821.  He 
then  became  faithful  in  his  preaching  at  Erlangen,  as  pas- 
tor as  well  as  professor,  and  became  greatly  interested  in 
missions. 

*  We  might  have  mentioned  him  in  connection  with  the  Reformed  univer- 
sities in  chapter  II.  of  this  book,  but  for  two  reasons  :  First,  Erlangen  was  not 
a  Reformed  university,  but  Lutheran,  having  only  a  Reformed  professorship ; 
and  second,  his  influence  against  Rationalism  was  rather  on  the  practical  side 
than  on  the  intellectual. 


krafft's  influence.  '       527 

The  year  1824  was  a  critical  year  for  him.  His  Pres- 
byterium  began  opposing  his  aggressive  labors,  especially 
his  association  with  missionaries,  for  he  had  been  in  close 
connection  with  the  missionary  society  at  Basle,  but  he 
handled  the  matter  so  prayerfully  and  wisely  that  it  even  led 
to  the  formation  of  a  missionary  society.  In  this  eventful 
year  he  had  announced  a  course  of  lectures  on  pastoral 
theology  for  the  winter  semester,  without  finding  a  single 
hearer.  He  was  about  giving  them  up,  when  some  of  the 
older  students  came  and  asked  him  for  them.  It  was 
soon  evident  that  God^s  Spirit  was  present  in  them.  Large 
numbers  of  students  attended  them.  He  began  them  with 
prayer  and  a  confession  of  his  faith,  which  revealed  his 
positive  position.  The  next  year  he  lectured  on  Missions, 
the  first  professor  in  Germany  to  do  this — long  before 
Wichern  called  the  attention  of  Germany  to  Home  Mis- 
sions. He  also  lectured  on  Biblical  Dogmatics.  He  was 
not  only  a  teacher  in  the  class-room,  but  from  his  pulpit 
as  well.  He  founded  his  sermons  deep  on  God's  Word 
and  was  a  Biblical  preacher.  Perhaps  his  most  influential 
meetings  were  with  the  students  on  Sabbath  noon,  when 
he  would  have  a  conference  with  them  on  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity.  These  opened  the  eyes  of  many  to  the 
truth.  His  earnestness,  his  sympathy  and  anxiety  for 
souls  touched  their  hearts.  He  was  to  Erlangen  what 
Tholuck  was  to  Halle,  and  Bengel  had  been  to  Tubingen. 
The  Rationalists  might  sneer  at  him    as   a  Pietist  and  a 


628  THE    REFOEMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMAN^Y. 

Mystic,  but  his  work  told.  For  the  young  men  who  sat 
at  his  feet,  went  out  to  become  leaders  in  the  Church  of 
Bavaria.  He  wrote  a  ^'  Harmony  of  the  Gospels,"  which 
sought  to  explain  the  difficulties  of  Christ's  life.  He 
founded  a  Bible  Society  in  1825,  which  in  three  years  dis- 
tributed 650  Bibles.  His  house  became  a  religious  centre. 
There  ministers,  evangelists  and  missionaries,  passing 
through,  stayed.  ^'  He  was  a  truly  apostolic  man,  whose 
very  appearance  was  a  silent  sermon  on  the  strength  of  God 
within  him,  a  rare  saint,  a  man  of  God."  He  thus  became 
the  spiritual  renovator  of  Bavaria.  Just  as  in  North  Ger- 
many, so  here  in  South  Germany,  while  the  Lutheran 
Church  had  fallen  asleep  through  Bationalism,  the  Re- 
formed Church  most  boldly  bore  its  testimony  and  led  to  a 
return  to  the  old  faith.  Prof  J.  C.  K.  Yon  Holman  (for 
ten  years  the  head  of  the  faculty  at  Erlangen)  said  that 
Krafft  was  his  spiritual  father.  Dr.  Stahl,  the  lawyer  and 
councillor,  who  was  destined  to  go  to  Berlin  and  break  up 
Hegelianism,*  in  an  address  before  the  General  Synod  of 
Berlin  in  1846,  placed  Krafft  on  a  level  with  Speuer  and 
Wilberforce,  and  said,  ^'  The  man  who  built  up  the  Church 
of  my  fatherland,  the  most  apostolic  man  I  ever  met  in  my 
life,  Pastor  Krafft,  was  a  strict  adherent  to  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism.  Whether  he  carried  it  in  his  pocket,  I  know 
not,  but  this  I  know,  that  he  caused  a  spring  time  to  bloom 
throughout  the  whole  land,   whose    fruit   will    ripen    for 

*  See  History  of  Berlin,  879. 


529 


eternity.''  At  another  time  in  the  Augsburg  Universal 
paper  Stahl  said,  "  In  Erlangen  labored  a  man  seldom 
found  in  our  times,  without  specially  stimulating  and 
intellectual  gifts,  but  with  great  strength  and  energy  of 
Avill,  of  simple  faith  in  the  Word  of  God,  he  was  for  the 
whole  land  of  Bavaria  a  leaven  which  leavened  the  whole 
loaf."     He  died  May  15,  1845. 

We  thus  see  that  the  Reformed  Church  had  many 
witnesses,  faithful  and  true,  against  Rationalism.  She 
need  not  be  ashamed  of  her  testimony.  Its  fruits,  how- 
ever, will  be  known  only  in  eternity. 


CHAPTER  YI. 

THE  MEDIATING  THEOLOGY. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  century  two  Reformed  pro- 
fessors were  prominent  as  leaders  of  thought,  Charles 
Daub  of  Heidelberg,  and  F.  D.  E.  Schleiermacher  of  Ber- 
lin. Both  were  aiming  to  build  the  bridge  between  faith 
and  unbelief,  so  as  to  lead  the  world  back  to  Christ. 

SECTION  I. 

CHARLES  DAUB. 

He  was  a  Hessian  by  birth,  having  been  born  at  Cas- 
sel,  March  20,  1765.  He  studied  at  Marburg,  but  was 
troubled  with  doubts,  which  even  the  prayers  of  his  influ- 
ential friends  with  him  and  for  him  did  not  take  away. 
He  then  became  professor  at  Marburg,  but  because  of 
his  Kantianism  he  found  it  best  to  resign.  And  so  he 
accepted  a  call  to  Heidelberg  in  1795,  where  he  taught 
for  41  years.  He  was  a  very  versatile  philosopher  and 
receptive  theologian.  He  had  been  called  the  Tallyrand 
of  German  philosophy,  because  he  passed  from  one  school 
to  another  with  such  great  ease.  ^^  In  him  the  dialectic 
progress  of  modern  philosophy  is  personified."  He  was 
first  a  follower  of  Kant,  as  was  shown  by  his  catechetics. 
But  in  1805  his  "  Heterodoxy  and  Orthodoxy''  appeared, 


daub's  vacillations.  531 

in  which  he  reveals  himself  a  follower  of  Fichte,  as  does 
his  "  Introduction  to  Christian  Dogmatics.'^  Then  when 
Hegel  became  professor  at  Heidelberg,  Daub  was  not 
too  old  to  be  influenced  by  him.*  Like  the  Pantheistic 
philosophy,  which  resolved  history  into  ideas,  and  made 
it  fashionable  to  connect  metaphysical  ideas  with  persons 
in  the  gospels,  Daub  deduced  Jesus  as  the  embodiment 
of  the  philosophical  doctrine  of  the  union  of  God  and  man, 
and  Judas  as  the  embodiment  of  a  rival  God.  His  last 
work,  the  "  Doctrinal  Theology  of  Modern  Times''  (1833), 
Strauss  calls  "  the  hell  of  Dante  heated  with  doctrinal  sys- 
tems, etc.,  of  the  last  sixty  years,  in  which  Supernatural- 
ists  are  roasted  by  the  side  of  Rationalists,  as  the  spirit  of 
Hegel  accompanies  him  through  it,  just  as  the  spirit  of 
Virgil  led  Dante." 

But  Daub,  though  a  most  profound  and  suggestive 
thinker,  did  not  found  a  school  of  his  own,  for  he  was  too 
abstract  to  do  that,  and  he  was  receptive  rather  than  form- 
ative. He  pitilessly  scourged  Rationalism,  yet  his  v/hole 
position  was,  as  Ebrard  says,  Pantheizing.  His  desire  to  die 
in  his  professional  chair  w^as  granted,  for  on  November  19, 
1836,  he  had  an  apoplectic  stroke  while  lecturing,  just  after 
he  had  uttered  the  words,  "  Life  is  not  the  highest  good." 
He  died  three  days  later,  closing  a  life  of  genuine  piety 
and  brilliant  speculation. 

*  Kahnis  says  :  "  His  Judas  Iscariot  (1816-18)  displayed  a  supernaturalism 
of  speculation  almost  bordering  on  Manicheism.  It  shows  his  struggle  with 
Hegel,  but  the  latter  triumphed. 


CHAPTER  YI.— SECTION  11. 

FREDERICK  D.  E.  SCHLEIERMACHER. 

AVhat  Daub  was  not  able  to  do,  Schleiermacher  did. 
He  built  the  bridge  for  Rationalism  to  return  to  Christi- 
anity. Two  tendencies  revealed  themselves  in  the  Pan- 
theistic thought  that  came  up  at  the  beginning  of  this  cen- 
tury, the  one  inclining  toward  faith,  the  other  leading 
away  from  it.  The  latter  was  Hegelianism,  whose  ulti- 
mate end  was  the  mythical  theory  of  Strauss.  The  for- 
mer was  Schleiermacherism. 

Schleiermacher  was  the  son  of  an  earnest,  orthodox  Re- 
formed chaplain, ''^  who,  to  prevent  his  son  from  falling 
into  the  Rationalism  which  filled  the  universities,  sent  him 
to  the  Moravian  school  at  Niesky,  and  two  years  later  to 
their  school  at  Barby.  Although  Schleiermacher  was 
quite  young  when  there  (15-19  years  of  age),  yet  the  effect 
of  his  early  Moravian  training  he  never  got  over  during 
all  his  life.  Following  them,  he  made  feeling  the  root  of 
religion,  and  following  Zinzendorf,  he  made  his  theology 
Christocentric,  which  was  the  one  feature  of  his  theology 
that  saved  it.     But  even  at  Barby  he  began  to  speculate 


*  It  is  remarkable  how  many  prominent  Germans  were  sons  of  Reformed 
ministers,  as  Hengstenberg,  who,  however,  went  over  to  Lutheranism,  and  Gei- 
bel,  the  great  poet,  and  others."" 


schleiermacher's  discourses.  53S 

and  have  doubts.  He  became  dissatisfied  with  the  Mo- 
ravian view  of  Christ's  atonement  and  of  eternal  punish- 
ment. So  against  the  wish  of  his  father,  he  left  Barby 
and  went  to  the  university  of  Halle,  where  he  lived  with 
an  uncle  and  heard  lectures  as  he  pleased.  Here  he 
remained  two  years,  and  came  more  and  more  under 
the  influence  of  speculation  and  Pantheism.  After  teach- 
ing a  few  years,  he  became  (1794)  assistant  pastor  at 
Landsburg  and  (1794)  pastor  of  the  Charite  at  Berlin. 

During  all  this  time  he  had  been  assiduously  follow- 
ing the  study  of  philosophy,  begun  at  Halle,  and  in  1799 
he  published  his  famous  pamphlet,  ^^  Discourses  on  Re- 
ligion." This  produced  a  marvellous  impression  on  the 
youth  of  Germany  and  saved  many  from  infidelity,  a& 
Werner,  to  whom  religion  had  appeared  a  riddle  before. 
In  it  he  said  he  came  not  as  a  minister,  but  as  one  who 
had  fought  down  his  doubts.  He  called  attention  to  the 
fact  which  Rationalism  had  forgotten,  that  religion  is  an 
independent  element  in  man's  nature,  and  that  it  was  not 
the  knowing,  but  the  feeling,  that  refers  all  the  phenomena 
of  the  universe  to  the  spirit  of  the  universe,  and  that  in 
religion  the  original  unity  of  man  with  the  universe  is 
restored.  But  while  this  book  was  providentially  over- 
ruled for  good,  it  is  evident,  as  the  Reformed  court 
preacher  Sack  charged,  that  he  made  so  many  concessions 
to  Pantheism,  and  it  had  a  Pantheistic  as  well  as  Christian 
basis.     The  older  Rationalists  attacked  him  bitterly,  and 


534  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

some  even  went  so  far  as  to  play  on  his  name,  which 
meant  a  "  maker  of  veils/^  and  intimated  that  he  veiled 
a  hidden  Pantheism  under  his  work.  He  did,  it  is  true, 
assign  to  Christianity  too  low  a  place,  for  he  made  it  one 
among  other  religions,  and  not  the  pre-eminent  one,  and 
said  that  a  more  perfect  form  of  it  is  to  be  expected. 

In  1802  he  became  Reformed  court  preacher  at  Stolp, 
and  in  1804  processor  of  theology  in  the  little  French 
Reformed  Theological  Seminary  at  Halle.  Here  he  begins 
to  show  a  more  decided  Christian  standpoint,  for  in  his 
^'  Christmas  Celebration"  (1806)  he  makes  Christ  the 
heavenly  centre  of  all  religions.  In  1809  he  was  made 
professor  in  the  new  university  of  Berlin,  and  in  1817  lost 
to  the  Reformed  Church  in  the  Union.  His  dogmatics, 
published  1821,  revealed  his  completed  theological  sys- 
tem. Space  forbids  our  going  into  an  extended  descrip- 
tion of  his  views,  nor  is  it  necessary,  for  he  became  not  a 
theologian  of  the  Reformed  Church,  but  the  founder  of 
the  mediating  school  of  theology.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
there  were  three  main  characteristics  of  his  theology  :  (1) 
Feeling  as  the  ground  of  religion ;  (2)  theology  centers  in 
Christ ;  (3)  pantheizing  basis  of  bringing  God  and  man 
together,  and  of  explaining  the  trinity  and  atonement 
Christology.*  His  mediating  theology  aimed  to  mediate 
on  two  points  :  (1)  Between  faith  and  unbelief  (to  do  that 

*  See  Ebrard  Church  History,  Vol.  IV.,  page  26  ;  Schaff-Herzog  Encyclo- 
pedia, Vol.  I.,  page  462,  or  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  German  Theology 
by  Matheson. 


THE   MEDIATING   THEOLOGY.  535 

it  bad  to  concede  some  fundamental  positions,  and  he  did 
so  by  making  redemption  as  something  done  in  us,  ratber 
tban  for  us,  etc.),  and  (2)  between  tbe  Lutheran  and  the 
Reformed  dogmatic  positions  (for  bis  dogmatics  were  the 
dogmatics  of  the  United  Church,  not  of  the  Reformed, 
and  to  do  this  he  had  to  give  up  some  Reformed  positions 
to  satisfy  the  Lutherans).  In  a  word,  he  aimed  to  be 
broad  in  views  and  sympathies,  even  at  tbe  expense  of 
strictly  Reformed  positions. 

More  important  for  us  is  it  to  discover  the  effect  of 
Schleiermacher  and  tbe  pantheistic  philosophy  of  the  early 
part  of  this  century  on  the  theologians  of  the  Reformed 
Church.  Tbe  school  of  Schleiermacher,  like  Hegel,  split 
into  two  wings,  a  right  and  a  left.  The  Reformed  who 
joined  the  right  wing,  w^ere  Ullman,  Rothe  and  Lange. 
^'  They  held,''  as  Kahnis  says,  ''  that  Christianity  is  not 
essentially  doctrine,  as  rationalists  and  supernaturalists 
had  one-sidedly  held,  nor  as  law  or  morality,  as  Kant 
bad  asserted,  nor  redemption,  as  Schleiermacher  would 
have  it,  but  as  a  union  of  man  and  God  effected  in  the 
person  of  its  founder."  Thus  the  mediating  theology  not 
merely  tried  to  mediate  between  opposing  systems,  but  it 
introduced  a  positive,  new  position  into  theology,  namely 
that  the  great  problem  of  man  and  the  great  aim  of  God 
was  the  union  of  man  wdth  God  through  Christ.  This  is 
simply  bringing  into  prominence  one  phase  of  Schleier- 
macher's  theology,  his  Christocentricity.     But  these  Re- 


536  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

formed  theologians  went  farther,  and  held  that  this  union 
is  brought  about  by  Christ  taking  on  Himself  generic 
humanity  or  the  human  race,  and  becoming  the  man  of 
the  species.  Thus  Christ,  the  ideal  man  of  Schleier- 
macher,  is  rejDroduced  as  the  real  universal  man  by  His 
disciples,  and  an  idea  is  made  a  reality.  They  thus  make 
Christ  the  second  Adam,  exactly  like  the  first.* 

Of  this  mediating  theology  it  might  be  said  that  Ull- 
man  developed  it  dogmatically,  Rothe  ethically,  and 
Lange  aesthetically  of  the  Reformed  theologians.  Three 
other  Reformed  theologians  remain  to  be  described.  They 
may  be  described  as  representing  the  three  schools  of  Cal- 
vinism (for  the  Supralapsarian  view  has  been  given  up), 
the  Infralapsarian,  Cocceian  and  Sublapsarian.  The  Sub- 
lapsarian  as  represented  by  Prof.  J.  H.  A.  Ebrard,  the  Coc- 
ceian by  Prof.  Henry  Heppe,  and  the  Infralapsarian  by  H. 
Kohlbriigge.  This  is  a  convenient  arrangement,  although 
on  some  minor  points  each  has  been  affected  by  the  drifts 
of  theology,  and  varies  somewhat  from  the  original 
expression  of  these  schools. 

*  This  never  can  be  doncj  for  the  first  Adam  had  no  divine  nature  in  him  as 
the  second  had.  Again,  could  the  one  be  the  type  of  the  other,  if  they  were 
exactly  identical,  for  they  would  be  identical,  not  typical  ?  There  must  be 
some  differences,  so  as  to  make  them  type  and  the  antitype. 


CHAPTER  VI.— SECTION  III. 

CHARLES  ULLMAN. 

Ullman  is  the  closest  orthodox  follower  of  Schleier- 
macher  among  the  Reformed.  He  was  born  at  Epfen- 
baeh  in  the  Palatinate,  March  15,  1796.  In  1812  he 
entered  the  university  of  Heidelberg,  where  he  was 
brought  into  contact  with  the  pantheistic  tendencies  of 
philosophy  by  Hegel  and  Daub.  But  the  pious  Abegg 
exerted  a  blessed  influence  on  him  to  correct  these  views. 
He  then,  at  Daub's  suggestion,  attended  the  Lutheran 
university  of  Tubingen,  where  he  came  into  contact  with 
the  Pietists  of  Wurtemberg.  He  was  licensed  (1816)  and 
the  next  year  was  assistant  atKirchheim.  But  his  exam- 
iners, among  them  Hegel,  urged  him  to  become  a  profes- 
sor, instead  of  a  pastor ;  so  he  began  his  studies  again  and 
went  to  the  newly  founded  university  of  Berlin.  Here, 
under  Schleiermacher,  Neander  and  DeWette  he  came 
thoroughly  under  the  influence  of  the  mediating  theology. 
Schleiermacher  gave  him  its  theology,  Neander  its  his- 
tory and  DeWette  its  criticism.  He  was  more  affected 
by  Schleiermacher's  teachings  than  any  one  of  the  stu- 
dents, except  Nitsch. 
35 


538  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

In  1819  he  returned  to  Heidelberg  as  lecturer,  and  in 
1821  became  professor  extraordinary.  Here  he  found  it 
somewhat  difficult  to  maintain  his  position,  for  most  of 
the  students  followed  the  speculative  Daub,  or  the  ration- 
alistic Paulus.  In  1825  he  published  his  Gregory  Nazi- 
anzen,  the  most  complete  monograph  that  had  as  yet 
appeared  on  any  of  the  Church  fathers,  and  it  gave  him  a 
great  reputation.  In  1828  he,  with  Umbreit,  founded  the 
magazine  ''  Studien  und  Kritiken"  as  the  organ  of  the 
Mediating  School.  The  first  essay  with  which  Ullman 
opened  it,  was  on  ^'  The  Sinlessness  of  Jesus."  It  was  an 
apologetic,  based,  says  Beyschlag,  on  the  central  position 
of  Schleiermacher's  dogmatics.  It  rested  the  proof  of  the 
divinity  of  Jesus  on  His  sinlessness.  This,  like  the 
whole  mediating  theology  of  which  it  is*  the  centre,  gives 
a  good  apologetic  centre,  but  a  poor  dogmatic  centre  for 
the  development  of  Biblical  and  spiritual  truth,  as  it  is 
defensive,  and  not  peculiarly  spiritual  and  devotional. 
This  work  passed  through  seven  editions  by  1863. 

Ullman  had  thus  gained  so  great  a  reputation  that 
Prussia  was  now  determined  to  o:aiu  him  for  one  of  her 
large  universities.  In  1829  he  was  called  to  Halle,  where 
he  aided  Tholuck  in  overcoming:  the  old  Rationalism. 
But  he  was  not  satisfied  there  and  longed  for  the  beautiful 
mountain  city  of  Heidelberg,  whose  university  was  receiv- 
ing new  vigor  by  the  appointment  of  men  like  Rothe. 
He  returned  therefore  to  Heidelberg  in  1836.     In  reply  to 


CHARLES    ULLMAN.  539 

Strauss'  "  Life  of  Christ/'  he  wrote  "  Historic  or  Mythic'' 
(1838).  His '^  Reformers  Before  the  Reformation,"  the 
best  historic  justification  of  the  Protestant  Church, 
appeared  in  1842.  In  1845  his  Essence  of  Christianity 
appeared,  which  reveals  his  mediating  theology,  as 
described  above.  This  passed  rapidly  through  four  edi- 
tions. Like  Schleiermacher,  he  defines  Christianity  as 
life  derived  from  its  founder.  ^^  The  Greek  received  it  as 
doctrine,  the  Latin  as  law,  and  the  Protestant  as  redemp- 
tion and  spiritual  liberty.  These  conceptions  were  true 
as  far  as  they  go,  but  they  do  not  go  far  enough.  The 
whole  truth  is,  that  Christianity  as  a  perfected  religion 
unites  God  and  man."  He  was  appointed  prelate  of  the 
United  Church  of  Baden  in  1853,  which  brought  him  into 
bitter  conflicts  with  the  Rationalists,  and  he  resigned  in 
1861.  He  died  January  12,  1865,  with  the  verse  "O 
sacred  Head,  now  wounded"  on  his  lips. 


CHAPTER  VI.— SECTION  IV. 

RICHARD  ROTHE. 

Closely  allied  with  Ullman  was  Richard  Rothe,  the 
ethical  theologian  and  one  of  the  most  speculative  minds 
of  this  century.  Next  to  Schleiermacher  he  has  done 
more  to  quicken  German  thought  than  any  one  else.  But 
no  creed,  not  even  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  could  con- 
fine him  within  its  bounds.  He  was  born  January  28, 
1799,  and  attended  the  Reformed  gymnasium  at  Breslau 
and  (1817)  the  university  of  Heidelberg.  There  Abegg's 
preaching  seemed  to  affect  him  more  than  Daub's  lectures. 
In  1819  he  went  to  the  university  of  Berlin,  but  he  did 
not  like  it  as  well  as  Heidelberg.  He  enjoyed  Neander, 
but  not  Schleiermacher.  But  he  felt  that  he  must  con- 
struct a  system  of  theology  for  himself,  instead  of  taking 
any  one  else's.  In  Berlin  he  was  fortunately  brought 
into  contact  with  Baron  Von  Kottwitz,  the  leader  of  the 
Berlin  pietists.  The  theological  seminary  at  Wittenberg, 
which  he  next  attended,  also  influenced  him  toward  Pietism. 
And  yet  he  was  rather  a  Pietist  of  conscience  than  of  expe- 
rience. He  was  called  as  chaplain  of  the  German  embassy 
at  Rome  (1823)  by  Bunsen.  Here  his  views  became 
broader.     His  naturally  speculative  mind  asserted  itself 


541 

above   bis  Pietism,   aud  be  became   bis   own    sort  of  a 
believer. 

He  returned  to  Germany  (1828)  as  director  of  tbe 
Wittenberg  Seminary.  His  acute  exegesis  of  Romans  5  : 
12 — 21  gave  bim  fame,  and  in  1839  be  was  called  as  pro- 
fessor to  Heidelberg.  Here  be  became  a  true  successor 
of  tbe  speculative  Daub.  In  1845  be  went  to  Bonn  as 
professor  for  five  years,  but  resigned,  as  be  did  not  want 
to  be  Consistorialratb,  but  only  professor.  He  became 
active  in  tbe  ecclesiastical  affairs  in  Baden,  surprising  tbe 
Evangelicals  by  going  over  to  tbe  camp  of  tbe  enemy  and 
aiding  Scbenkel,  because  be  loved  liberty  better  tban 
ortbodoxy. 

His  Tbeological  Etbics,  1845-8,  was  bis  greatest  work, 
and  reveals  tbe  progress  of  tbe  Mediating  tbeology.  If 
tbe  sinless  person  of  Cbrist  is  made  tbe  centre  of  tbeologi- 
cal tbinking,  it  will  produce  an  etbical  tbeology.  In 
barmony  witb  tbis,  Rotbe  beld  ^^  tbat  religion  and  morals 
are  identical,  and  no  Cbristian  doctrine  is  complete,  unless 
it  ends  in  action ;  and  on  tbe  otber  band,  no  action  of 
man  is  really  complete,  unless  illuminated  by  Cbristian 
doctrine.''  Tbese  beautiful  ideas  be  applied  practically  to 
Cbristian  motives  and  duties,  and  also  to  tbe  state,  bold- 
ing  tbat  tbe  laws  of  tbe  state  were  to  be  filled  witb  Cbris- 
tian ideas  or  doctrines.  Tbis  led  to  tbe  logical  conclu- 
sion tbat  tbe  state  sbould  ultimately  absorb  tbe  Cburcb,  as 
tbe  state  becomes  more  and  more  permeated  witb  Cbristian 


542  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

ideas.  This  was  a  bold  conception,  and  led  him  to  be  criti- 
cised on  many  sides,  as  by  the  Eomanists,  who  held  the  oppo- 
site view — that  the  state  is  to  be  absorbed  in  the  Church. 
In  his  doctrinal  ideas,  as  revealed  in  his  Ethics  and  Dog- 
matics, he  wanders  far  from  the  old  Reformed  positions. 
He  abandons  the  old  doctrine  of  the  trinity  and  the  Christ- 
ology  of  Chalcedon,  although  he  admits  the  divinity  of 
Christ,  but  holds  to  a  gradual  incarnation  theory,  and 
also  to  annihilationism.  His  system  reveals  great  breadth 
of  thought.  No  Christian  idea  and  no  phase  of  Christian 
faith  is  forgotten  in  it.  And  yet  in  all  his  speculations 
he  remained  a  simple-hearted  Christian.  However  far 
his  mind  might  wander,  or  however  high  his  speculation 
might  soar,  he  still  confessed  that  he  knew  no  other 
ground  as  the  anchor  of  his  soul  but  Jesus  Christ.* 

*  We  have  space  only  to  refer  to  Schenkel,  who  was  called  to  Heidelberg 
from  Basle  as  a  Reformed  professor.  But  he  soon  left  the  orthodox  Reformed 
position.  His  Dogmatics  was  written  from  the  standpoint  of  the  conscience. 
His  influence  as  a  Rationalist  swung  the  university  of  Heidelberg  completely 
over  into  their  hands. 


CHAPTER  VI.— SECTION  V. 
JOHN  PETER  LANGE. 

The  aesthetic  theologian  of  the  mediating  school  of  the 
Eeformecl  Church  was  Lange,  the  poetical  theologian  and 
the  theological  poet,  the  most  important  Reformed  hymn 
writer  of  his  age.  He  was  born  April  10,  1802,  at  Sonn- 
born,  near  Elberfeld.  Every  dollar  he  earned,  he  took  to 
Elberfeld  to  buy  books.  He  aided  his  father,  who  was  a 
wagon-master,  and  often  thought  of  becoming  a  merchant. 
This  desire  led  him  to  study  French,  which  by  and  by  led 
him  to  Voltaire,  whose  works  led  him  to  Rationalism.  The 
new  assistant  pastor,  Kalthof,  who  came  there  in  1819, 
saw  his  talents  and  urged  him  to  study  theology.  He 
went  in  1821  to  the  Diisseldorf  gynmasium,  where  his 
poetical  talents  early  showed  themselves  in  his  parody  on 
the  '^Singer  of  Goethe.^'  In  1822  he  went  to  Bonn  uni- 
versity, where  he  came  under  the  influence  of  the  mediat- 
ing theology  of  Nitzsch.  In  1825  he  became  assistant 
pastor  to  Emil  Krummacher  at  Langenberg.  Then  he 
Avas  called  to  Wald,  near  Solingen,  1826,  and  1828  as 
pastor  to  Langenberg. 

Here  he  was  active  in  literary  as  well  as  pastoral 
labors.      The   first    volume    of    his  "  Biblical    Poems^' 


544  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY, 

appeared,   and   in   it  his   beantifnl    Easter  hymn,    ^^  Der 

Herr  ist  auferstanden"  : 

The  Lord  of  life  is  risen : 
Sing,  Easter  heralds,  sing, 
He  bursts  His  rocky  prison  ; 
Wide  let  the  triumph  ring. 
In  death  no  longer  lying, 
He  rose,  the  Prince,  to-day  ; 
Life  of  the  dead  and  dying, 
He  triumphed  o'er  decay. 

Around  Thy  tomb,  O  Jesus, 
How  sweet  the  Easter  breath ; 
Hear  we  not  in  the  breezes, 
"  Where  is  thy  sting,  O  Death  ?" 
Dark  hell  flies  in  commotion, 
The  heavens  their  anthems  sing ; 
While  far  o'er  earth  and  ocean 
Glad  hallelujahs  ring. 

Oh,  publish  this  salvation, 
Ye  heralds,  through  the  earth, 
To  every  buried  nation, 
Proclaim  the  day  of  birth. 
Till,  rising  from  their  slumbers 
In  long  and  ancient  night, 
The  countless  heathen  numbers 
Should  hail  the  Easter  light. 

Hail !  hail !  our  Jesus  risen  ! 
Sing,  ransomed  brethren,  sing ! 
Through  death's  dark,  gloomy  prison 
Let  Easter  chorals  ring. 
Haste,  haste,  ye  captive  legions, 
Accept  your  glad  reprieve ; 
Come  forth  from  sin's  dark  regions — 
In  Jesus'  kingdom  live. 

He  also  wrote  a  work  rejdying  to  the  high  predestina- 
rian  views  of  F.  W.  Krummacher,  in  which  he  holds  to 


J.    p.    LANGE.  545 

universal  atonement.  In  1832  he  was  called  to  Duisburg, 
where  he  published  his  second  volume  of  Biblical  poems, 
which  contain  his  beautiful  hymns,  "  Sei  Du  mein  Freund" 
and '' Mein  Weg  kommt  von  der  Wiege.'^  In  1836  he 
wrote  his  "  History  of  Christ's  Infancy/'  directed  against 
Strauss,  which  gave  him  fame.  In  1839  he  visited  Switz- 
erland, where  his  aesthetic  nature  was  charmed  by  the 
beauty  and  grandeur  of  the  scenery.  When  the  uprising 
of  the  Swiss  against  Strauss  at  Zurich  prevented  Strauss 
from  accepting  a  professorship  at  Zurich,  Lange  was  called 
there  by  the  new  conservative  government,  who  had  heard 
of  his  ability  through  his  work  against  Strauss.  But  as 
Strauss  still  had  many  friends  there,  he  found  his  posi- 
tion difficult  at  first.  Nevertheless  he  soon  gained  many 
friends,  so  that  when,  after  thirteen  years,  he  left  there, 
even  his  enemies  had  become  his  friends.  Here  he  pub- 
lished (1849-52)  his  "  Life  of  Christ,"  a  masterly  answer 
to  Strauss.  Yet  this  work  was  attacked  in  the  home  of 
his  nativity  by  F.  W.  Krummacher,  so  that  he  Avas  com- 
pelled to  defend  himself.  He  also  published  his  Dog- 
matics, which  reveal  his  speculative,  poetical  mind,  and 
also  show  him  a  unionistic,  mediating  theologian,  rather 
than  a  confessional  Reformed  theologian.  His  stay  at 
Zurich  was  also  enriched  by  his  ^^  History  of  German 
Hymns,  and  Theory  of  Church  Hymns,"  to  which  he  added 
another  book  of  poems,  in  which  are  his  famous  hymns, 
"  Hoerst  Du  die  Glocke  der  Ewigkeit  ?"  and  "  Nun  weisz 
ich  eiuen  sicheren  Ort." 


546  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

In  18e54  he  went  back  to  Germany  as  professor  at 
Bonn,  in  Dorner's  place.  He  became  a  member  of  the 
united  consistory  in  1866  and  a  leader  in  the  United 
Church,  taking  an  active  part  in  Synods,  conferences, 
diets,  etc.  But  his  commentaries  were  his  greatest  work. 
These  were  an  immense  undertaking.  He  labored  at 
them  for  more  than  twenty  years.  He  engaged  about 
twenty  commentators,  but  wrote  commentaries  on  fifteen 
books  himself.  His  commentary  is  a  master-piece  of 
industry,  combining  knowledge  and  criticism,  poetical 
flights  and  philosophical  speculations,  in  which  sometimes 
his  views  are  fanciful,  rather  than  correct.  He  aims  to 
combine  both  the  ideal  and  real ;  thus  at  one  time  the 
devil  is  an  ambiguous  term,  the  ideal  of  the  evil  princi- 
ple, and  at  another  a  personal  spirit.  The  criticism  that 
has  been  made  on  Lange  is  that  he  was  too  much  of  a 
poet  to  be  a  theologian,  and  too  much  of  a  theologian  to 
be  a  poet.  His  poetical,  aesthetic  nature  often  obscures, 
rather  than  clears,  his  dogmatic  perceptions. 

In  his  Dogmatics  (1849-52)  he  declared  that  the- 
ology must  start  from  a  knowledge  of  man's  nature,  which 
he  says  has  a  three-fold  consciousness,  like  God.  The 
incarnation  is  an  eternal  truth  realized  in  Christ.  The 
Son  at  the  incarnation  took  not  an  individual  nature,  but 
humanity.  A  peculiarity  of  his  Christology  is  his  dis- 
tinction between  Christ's  day  and  night  consciousness, 
which    is   fanciful  and  poetical,  rather   than    clear.     He 


LANGE^S   THEOLOGY.  547 

holds  to  kenosis,  but  in  such  a  mild  form  that  the  doc- 
trine limits  Christ  substantially  in  the  use,  rather  than 
the  possession,  of  His  divine  attributes.  Thus  in  various 
ways  he  reveals  his  divergence  from  the  confessional 
Reformed  position  and  his  adherence  to  the  mediating 
theology.  His  Lutheranizing  tendencies  are  shown  in  his 
views  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  where  he  speaks  of  the  glori- 
fied Christ  coming  down  on  earth  to  the  communicant,  to 
confer  on  him  the  power  of  His  body.  He  says,  "  This 
requirement,  ignored  by  Calvin,  Luther  carried  out  from 
the  beginning  of  his  doctrine,  that  in  the  bread  and  wine 
the  true  body  and  blood  of  Christ  is  actively  received  by 
the  believer.''* 

This  mediating  theology  was  accepted  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Philip  Schaff.  He  had  been  trained  in  Switzerland  after 
the  confessional  Reformed  consciousness  had  been  forgot- 
ten in  the  fierce  conflict  with  Rationalism,  and  only  a  gen- 
eral Evangelical  belief,  rather  than  Reformed,  remained, 
especially  in  the  northeastern  cantons.  He  went  to  Ber- 
lin and  became  an  ardent  follower  of  Neander  and  the 
mediating  school.     He  introduced  the  mediating  theology 

*  John  Jacob  Herzog,  a  Swiss  by  birth,  became  prominent  as  a  Reformed 
professor  at  Halle  and  Erlangen.  He  was  more  noted  as  a  historian  than  a 
theologian.  But  his  great  work  was  his  Theological  Encyclopaedia,  begun  at 
Halle,  1854,  and  ended  at  Erlangen,  1866,  publirhed  in  21  volumes.  In  this 
he  wrote  not  less  than  529  articles  himself.  He  also  published  a  second  edi- 
tion of  it.  It  was  written  from  an  Evangelical  standpoint,  although  the  posi- 
tions of  the  rationalist  are  very  fairly  stated.  It  was  an  immense  undertak- 
ing, and  will  ever  remain  a  monument  to  his  industry,  learning  and  breadth 
of  sympathy,  as  well  as  orthodox  position  in  theology. 


548  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

to  America.  Rev.  Dr.  J.  W.  Neviu  became  a  follower  of 
Ullman,  part  of  one  of  whose  works  he  translates  as  the 
first  chapter  in  his  Mystical  Presence,  and  on  which  he 
builds  his  theology.  But  UUman's  theology  was  not  rated 
in  Germany  as  confessional  Reformed  theology,  but  as 
mediating  unionistic,  tinged  with  concessions  to  Lutheran- 
ism,  especially  on  the  sacraments. 


CHAPTER   VI.— SECTION   VI. 

JOHN  HENRY  AUGUSTUS  EBRARD. 

He  was  born  at  Erlangen,  January  18,  1818.  His 
father  was  of  Huguenot  ancestry  and  pastor  of  the  French 
Reformed  church  there,  the  predecessor  of  the  pious  Pro- 
fessor Kraift,  under  whose  ministry  the  pious  boy  grew 
up  and  received  his  religious  impressions.  He  attended 
the  university  of  Erlangen,  and  became  private  doceut 
there.  When  only  twenty-three  years  of  age,  he  wrote  a 
reply  to  Strauss,  "  A  Scientific  Critique  of  the  Gospel 
History,''  which  reached  three  editions  and  gave  him  a 
reputation,  so  that  when  only  twenty-six  years  of  age,  he 
was  called  as  professor  of  theology  at  Zurich  university, 
where  he  remained  five  years.  Here  he  published  his 
"  History  of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper,"  which 
is  especially  important  in  his  description  of  Zwingli's 
views.  To  investigate  these,  his  residence  at  Zurich  gave 
him  peculiar  opportunities.  In  1848  he  was  called  back 
to  Erlangen  to  succeed  Professor  Krafft.  Here  he  pub- 
lished his  Dogmatics,  1851.  Then  he  was  made  Consis- 
torialrath  at  Spires  in  1853.  Of  his  conflicts  with  the 
Rationalists  there,  we  have  not  time  to  speak.  Suffice  it 
to  say  that  he  resigned  and  was  back  at  Erlangen  in 
1861. 


550  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

For  a  number  of  years  no  place  seemed  to  be  open  to 
him,  for  the  rationalistic  opposition  to  him  made  all  his 
efforts  to  secure  a  position  suitable  to  his  ability  in  vain. 
Still  his  literary  activity  was  very  great.  In  1864  he 
published  his  ^^  Practical  Theology."  In  it  he  holds  that 
practical  theology  was  not  the  fourth  of  the  departments 
of  theology,  as  it  is  usually  rated,  but  the  entire  theology 
under  the  aspect  of  art,  as  distinct  from  science.  Theol- 
ogy was  first  science,  and  then  art,  which  cares  for  practi- 
cal activities,  basing  itself,  however,  on  scientific  knowl- 
edge. His  was  a  varied  genius.  He  also  wrote  poems,  as 
the  twenty-four  Psalms.  He  composed  novels  under 
various  pseudonymes  like  Gottfried  Flamberg,  Sigmund 
Sturm,  etc.  He  wrote  Huguenot  tales,  and  in  "  Einer  ist 
euer  Meister"  (One  is  your  Master)  he  tells  the  romance 
of  the  birth  of  the  Reformed  Church  at  Heidelberg  in  the 
sixteenth  century.  In  1875  he  was  called  to  the  French 
Reformed  church  at  Erlangen,  of  which  his  father  had 
been  pastor  before  Krafft.  His  crowning  work  was  his 
"Apologetics,"  1874-75.  In  it  he  completely  annihilates 
all  anti-Christian  systems.  Few  men  of  his  day  could 
have  produced  such  an  array  of  facts  from  all  sources  and 
philosophies,  wrought  them  together  in  such  logical  and 
lucid  order,  and  made  them  tell  so  effectively.  It  reveals 
wide  reading,  magnificent  grasp  of  thought,  acute  reason- 
ing united  to  grim  humor.  It  was  the  master-piece  of 
apologetics  of  his  day. 


551 

Theologically  Ebrard  claimed  to  belong  to  the  Sub- 
lapsarian  school  of  Calvinism.  Being  of  Huguenot 
descent,  he  gloried  in  his  theological  standpoint  ^^as 
Reformed  orthodox  in  the  sense  of  the  Loudon  Synod  of 
1660,  which  declared  Amyraldism  to  be  highly  orthodox. '^ 
He  claims  that  this  was  the  position  of  the  German 
Reformed  Church.*  In  harmony  with  the  Sublapsarians, 
Ebrard  believes  in  the  universality  of  the  atonement  over 
against  limited  atonement,  and  holds  to  redemptive  Cal- 
vinism, rather  than  a  theological  or  anthopological  Cal- 
vinism, like  Augustine  or  Calvin  had  done. 

But  while  Ebrard  may  be  called  an  Amyraldian  in 
his  general  position,  on  two  important  points  he  reveals 
himself  as  influenced  by  the  philosophic  thought  of  this 
century.  First  he  was  influenced  by  Thomasius,  who  was 
professor  at  the  same  university  of  Erlangen,  to  hold  the 
view  of  kenosis,  which  meant  that  Christ^s  divinity  lim- 
ited itself  to  His  humanity.  He  held,  however,  that 
w^hile  the  Logos  reduced  Himself  to  the  dimensions  of  a 
man.  He  at  the  same  time  retained  and  exercised  His 
divine  perfections,   in    order  to  harmonize  the  problem. 

*•  We  could  wish  that  his  statements  were  true,  for  our  view  is  that  of  Sub- 
lapsarian  Calvinism  as  being  the  biblical  view.  But  facts  abundantly  prove 
that  both  the  German  and  the  Swiss  Reformed  Churches  were  higher  Calvin- 
ists,  and  that  the  Federal  school  was  in  the  ascendent  during  most  of  their  his- 
tory. Schweitzer  is  right  against  Ebrard  in  saying  that  the  Reformed  Church 
was  predestinarian,  although  we  do  not  believe,  in  his  pantheistic  sense.  While 
Ebrard  is  right  against  Schweitzer,  that  the  German  Church  had  different 
schools  of  Calvinism,  instead  of  a  high  Calvinistic  school  only,  he  is  wrong  in 
not  making  the  Cocceian  the  most  prominent. 


552  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

How  the  same  individual  mind  can  be  finite  and  infinite, 
ignorant  and  omniscient,  he  explains  by  saying  that  eter- 
nity and  time  are  not  parallel.  But  suppose  they  are  not 
parallel,  how  does  that  explain  it  ?  It  is  verbal  quib- 
bling, which  cannot  explain  so  profound  a  philosophical 
problem.'''  In  becoming  a  kenotist,  he  departs  from  the 
historic  Reformed  position,  for  kenotists  have  never  his- 
torically been  a  party  among  Reformed  dogmatists.  The 
kenotic  controversy  occurred  rather  in  the  Lutheran 
Church  between  the  universities  of  Giessen  and  Tubingen, 
in  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  which  reveals 
that  kenosis  was  the  development  of  the  Lutheran 
eutychianizing  tendencies,  which  the  Reformed  rejected. 
The  proper  Reformed  view  was  occultation,  that  the 
divinity  was  voluntarily  hidden  behind  the  humanity, 
like  the  sun  in  an  eclipse. 

Ebrard  was  also  influenced  by  the  mediating  theology, 
so  that  Kahnis  even  reckons  him  among  the  unionistic 
theologians,  rather  than  the  Reformed.  He  evidently 
aimed  to  adapt  the  Reformed  views  to  the  mediating 
theology  on  some  points.  Thus  he  holds  that  Christ 
came  to  earth  to  start  a  new  race  and  took  on  Himself 
generic  humanity,  and  this  theanthropic  life  has  come 
down  to  us  through  the  Church.  At  baptism  regeneration 
is  begun  by  the  infusion  of  this  theanthropic  life,  which  is 

•*  For  a  full  statement  of  his  views,  see  Bruce's  Humiliation  of  Christ,  page 
414-5. 


553 


further  communicated  to  the  communicant  through  the 
Lord\s  Supper.  Ebrard,  however,  differed  from  Nevin, 
(as  Dorner  did  in  his  criticisms  on  Nevin).  While  Ebrard 
conceded  the  idea  of  the  theanthropic  life,  yet  he  is  careful 
to  claim  that  the  union  between  this  theanthropic  life  and 
the  believer  is  by  faith,  and  not  by  the  mere  sacramental 
act  ;*  and  he  gives  a  larger  efficiency  to  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  linking  our  faith  to  Christ's  humanity,  than  does  the 
mechanical  theory  of  Nevin.  In  his  "  Practical  Theol- 
ogy'' he  opposes  any  high  Church  sacramentarian  views. 
After  saying  that  '^  he  who  once  becomes  a  Puseyite,  will 
soon  be  a  Papist,"  he  says  :  '^  The  preaching  of  the  Gos- 
pel has  lost  its  charm,  the  people  must  be  attracted  and 
wrought  upon  by  responsive  service  and  the  riches  of 
liturgical  forms.  ^  O  foolish  Galatians,  who  hath  bewitched 
you?"'t  He  died  July  23,  1888.  It  seems  unfortunate 
that  so  profound  a  thinker  should  have  been  circum- 
scribed by  rationalistic  and  Lutheran  influences  to  a 
small  university  and  a  limited  sphere. 

■■•  Ebrard's  Dogmatics,  Section  531 . 

t  See  Reformed  Church  Monthly,  April,  1875. 


36 


CHAPTER  VI.— SECTION  YIL 

HENRY  LEWIS  JULIUS  HEPPE. 

Henry  Heppe  was  born  at  Cassel,  March  30,  1820. 
He  early  desired  to  become  a  minister,  but  poverty  hin- 
dered. Still  in  spite  of  it,  he  struggled  to  gain  his  aim. 
He  studied  at  the  gymnasium  at  Cassel  and  the  univer- 
sity of  Marburg,  and  was  called  in  1843  as  senior  pastor 
of  the  St.  Martin's  church  of  Cassel.  Here  his  earnest 
sermons  drew  large  audiences.  He  early  revealed  his 
great  industry  and  his  inclination  to  historical  studies. 
For  at  Cassel  he  gained  access  to  the  historical  archives, 
which  he  so  wonder  \illy  developed  in  his  Church  Histo- 
ries of  Hesse.  In  1847  he  published  his  History  of  the 
General  Synods  of  Hesse.  In  1849  his  love  for  study 
led  him  to  resign  his  pastorate  and  go  to  Marburg,  where 
in  1850  he  became  a  professor  extraordinary,  although 
receiving  only  $225,  which  he  divided  with  his  parents, 
who  found  a  home  with  him.  In  1852  the  university,  in 
recognition  of  his  historical  labors,  gave  him  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity.  He  was  .the  youngest  person  then 
holding  that  degree  in  Germany.  His  controversy  with 
Vilmar,  as  to  whether  the  Hessian  Church  was  .Reformed 
or  Lutheran,  we  will   refer  to  later.     In  his  History   of 


555 


German  Protestantism  (1853-9)  he  held  that  the  original 
Lutheran  Church  of  Germany  was  Melancthonian,  and 
that  the  high  Lutherans  were  only  a  party  in  that 
Church,  who  came  up  afterward  and  finally  gained  con- 
trol of  the  Church,  while  the  original  Lutheran  party 
(Melancthonian)  continuel  itself  in  the  Reformed  Church, 
which  as  German  Reformed  differed  from  the  Reformed 
Churches  in  other  lands  by  its  lower  view  of  the  predesti- 
nation and  its  higher  view  of  the  sacraments.  With  this 
theory  his  later  books  are  tinged.  He,  however,  does  not 
make  out  either  of  his  points.  As  to  the  first,  that  the 
early  Lutherans  were  Melancthonian,  Luther's  views  on 
predestination  and  the  slavery  of  the  will  abundantly  dis- 
prove it,  though  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  the  different  schools 
of  Lutherans  did  not  separate  from  each  other  till  after 
Luther's  death.  (Of  the  Melancthonianism  of  the  Re- 
formed Church  we  will  speak  in  Book  VIL)  Heppe  con- 
tinued his  diligent  labors.  His  History  of  Pietism  vir- 
tually created  that  branch  of  Church  history.  He  pub- 
lished his  Confessions  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Ger- 
many, then  his  Dogmatics,  and  also  a  Life  of  Beza  in  the 
"  Fathers  of  the  Reformed  Church"  series,  also  a  History 
of  the  Evangelical  Church  of  Cleve,  Mark  and  West- 
phalia, Church  History  of  the  Two  Hesses,  the  latter 
gaining  him  the  greatest  approval,  even  the  investi- 
ture by  the  Landgrave  of  the  Order  of  Philip,  first  class. 
Through  the  intense  opposition  of  the  Hassenpflug-Yilmar 


556  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

ministry,  he  was  not  appointed  as  a  regular  professor  at 
Marburg  till  1864.  He  died  July  25,  1879,  after  having 
heard  his  favorite  hymn,  "  Jesus,  meine  Zuversicht.'^ 

As  a  theologian  he  occupies  the  Cocceian  position. 
While  in  history  he  was  Melancthonian,  in  Dogmatics  he 
belonged  to  the  Federal  school.  His  Dogmatics  rather 
gives  the  material  for  a  Dogmatics,  than  is  a  Dogmatics 
itself.  But  its  central  principle  was  the  covenants.  He 
teaches  unconditional  predestination  and  the  election  of  a 
certain  number.  He  says,  "  while  therefore  the  divine 
decree  is  the  being  and  willing  of  God  Himself,  it  is  con- 
ditioned by  nothing,  but  is  absolute,  eternal  and  unchange- 
able. In  no  wise  can  the  ground  of  election  be  found  in 
anything  outside  of  God,  neither  in  the  will  of  man,  nor  in 
the  use  of  the  means  of  grace,  nor  in  the  foreseen  faith  of 
the  regenerated,  nor  in  his  diligence  in  mortification,  also 
not  in  the  merits  of  Christ,  but  only  in  the  benevolence 
of  God."  He  holds  that  a  part  of  the  human  race  are 
elected,  and  that  there  is  reprobation.  As  to  Christ's 
death  he  holds  to  limited  atonement.*  His  Dogmatics, 
with  their  valuable  extracts  from  Reformed  Dogmati- 
cians,  is  an  admirable  historical  compend  of  Reformed 
dogmatics.     Everywhere  he  speaks  of  the  covenants. 

*  See  Dogmatics,  pages  111-114  and  328. 


CHAPTER  YI.— SECTIO^^  VIII. 
THE  INFRALAPSARIAN  SCHOOL. 

A  last  school  of  Reformed  theology  in  our  day  is  the 
Infralapsarian.  This  was  represented  by  Kohlbriigge. 
God's  sovereignty  is  emphasized,  but  exhibited  rather  as 
a  comfort  and  ground  of  hope,  than  from  the  standpoint 
of  mere  law  and  justice.  In  the  doctrine  of  election  of 
grace,  in  common  with  the  Reformed  of  Germany,  he 
emphasized  the  grace  rather  than  the  election,  although  he 
made  the  latter  the  ground  of  the  former.  He  did  not 
formulate  his  views  into  a  Dogmatics,  but  they  are  revealed 
in  his  published  sermons.  His  son-in-law,  Professor 
Boehl,  of  the  university  of  Vienna,  has  more  fully  formu- 
lated his  views  in  his  Dogmatics  and  other  works. 

Kohlbriigge  was  closely  followed  by  Professor  John 
Wichelhaus,  who  was  professor  at  Halle  in  1854.  Al- 
though he  belonged  to  the  state  Reformed  Church,  yet  he 
sympathized  w^ith  Kohlbriigge.  But  he  was  permitted  to 
teach  only  four  years,  when  he  died.  He  left  his  impress 
on  his  students,  Professor  Boehl  of  Vienna  and  the  late 
Rev.  Mr.  Bula  of  Switzerland.  His  theology  is  Biblical 
and  Calvinistic,  as  revealed  in  his  lectures,  published  by 
Dr.  Adolph  Zahn,  who  is  also  a  strong  adherent  of  the 


558  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Kohlbriigge  school,  and  whose  excellent  work  on  Deuter- 
onomy, and  also  on  Calvin,  should  be  noticed.  But  Profes- 
sor Edward  Boehl  of  Vienna*  is  the  most  prominent  liv- 
ino*  representative  of  this  school.  He  was  born  at  Ham- 
burg, November  18,  1836,  and  became  Reformed  profes- 
sor at  Vienna,  1864.  He  is  an  able  thinker  and  a  strong 
Calvinist.  AVith  him  the  decrees  is  the  formative  princi- 
ple of  Dogmatics,  yet  he  holds  that  they  should  bring 
man  to  humility,  rather  than  to  indifference.  He  agrees 
with  the  Infralapsarians  on  limited  atonement. 

But  this  school  of  Kohlbriigge  has  been  charged  with 
several  peculiar  tendencies.  First,  Kohlbriigge  was 
charged  with  antinomianism,  because  he  so  greatly 
emphasized  the  grace  of  God,  they  said,  as  to  leave  man 
nothing  to  do.  Man  is  nothing.  God  is  everything. 
While  some  of  his  expressions  seem  unguarded,  yet  he 
denied  any  antinomianism.  He  also  held  that  Christ,  in 
becoming  man,  came  under  the  law  as  a  child  of  Adam 
in  the  same  way  that  any  other  child  of  Adam  came  under 
the  law.  This  has  been  understood  to  mean  that  Christ 
took  sinful  nature  in  union  v/ith  his  divinity. f  AVhile 
Boehl  in  his  work  on  justification  has  been  charged  with 
not  sufficiently  distinguishing  sanctification  and  justifica- 

*  This  university  is  in  close  touch  with  those  of  Germany,  as  it  is  a  German 
university. 

-f  This  view  was  due  to  his  theory  of  original  sin,  which  made  it  a  change 
of  relation,  rather  than  a  change  of  nature,  and  was  the  result  of  their  empha- 
sis on  the  objective  side,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  subjective. 


559 


tion,  he  declared  that  justification  is  not  merely  a  forensic 
act^  but  also  a  making  him  righteous,  an  actual  transac- 
tion. Righteousness  implies  a  whole  change  of  the  sinner 
before  God,  and  so  brings  with  it  both  regeneration  and 
sanctification."^ 

*  It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  Professor  Usteri  died  so  soon  at  Erlan- 
gen  in  1890.  His  ability  and  industry  gave  promise  of  so  much  hope  and 
success.  Professor  Charles  Miiller  has  been  appointed  his  successor  there  in 
1892,  and  bids  fair  to  bring  Reformed  dogmatics  again  into  prominence. 


BOOK  VI. 


THE  UNION. 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  PRUSSIAIN  UNION, 


SECTION  I. 
EFFORTS  AT  UNION. 

Church  union  had  long  been  a  dream;  it  now  became 
a  reality.  Three  centuries  (1529-1817)  elapsed  before  it 
was  realized.  The  dream  of  Zwingli,  when  at  Mar- 
burg he  held  out  his  hand  to  Luther  and  was  refused,  was 
fulfilled  when  the  Prussian  King  ordered  the  union  of  the 
Reformed  and  Lutherans  into  one  Evangelical  Church,  to 
take  place  October  31,  1817. 

Conferences  on  union  had  been  held  in  the  past. 
Bucer  had  been  the  apostle  of  union  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, but  all  he  could  secure  was  a  concord  (the  Witten- 
berg Concord),  not  a  union.  In  the  next  century  three 
conferences  were  held.  One  was  held  at  Leipsic,  March, 
1631,  between  Hoe  von  Hoenegg  with  two  other  Luther- 
ans and  the  Reformed  court  preachers,  J.  Bergius  and  J. 


UNION    EFFORTS.  561 

CrociuSj  and  Superintendent  Neuberger.  They  agreed  on 
the  basis  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  and  disagreed  on 
the  Lord's  Supper  and  predestination,  but  the  conference 
failed  to  produce  a  union.  Then  came  John  Dury  with 
his  union  efforts  during  the  Thirty  Years'  War  and  after. 
In  July,  1661,  another  conference  was  held  at  Cassel 
between  the  Reformed  professors  of  Marburg,  Curtius  and 
Hein,  and  the  Lutheran  professors  of  Rinteln,  Musaeus 
and  Hennich.  This  was  the  most  satisfactory  conference 
of  all,  for  'even  the  Lutherans  were  concessive.  They 
belonged  to  the  mild  Lutheran  school  of  Calixtus.  The 
two  denominations  disagreed  on  the  Lord's  Supper  and 
predestination.  This  conference  was  remarkable  for  the 
clear  statement  of  the  points  of  difference,  for  the  excel- 
lent spirit  shown  and  the  agreement  to  treat  each  other  as 
brethren.  The  following  year,  August  21,  1662,  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg  ordered  a  conference  between  the 
Reformed  and  Lutheran  ministers  of  Berlin — between 
Stosch  and  other  Reformed  ministers,  and  Reinhardt  and 
Paul  Gerhardt  of  the  Lutherans,  but  it  failed  to  bring 
about  a  union.  In  1703  another  conference  was  held  at 
Berlin  between  Strimesius  and  Jablonsky  for  the  Re- 
formed, and  Winkler  for  the  Lutherans.  (Jablonsky  was 
a  Moravian  bishop,  who  was  also  the  Reformed  court 
preacher.  He  it  was  who  ordained  Zinzendorf  (1731),  and 
thus  linked  the  later  Moravians  with  the  old  Bohemian 
brethren.     The  Moravians  of  to-day  have  a   Reformed 


562  THE    REFOEMED    CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

minister  to  thank  for  their  succession  of  bishops.)  This 
conference  was  also  a  faikire.  Then  the  subject  of  union 
slept  for  a  century,  until  1817.  In  the  union  of  1817 
several  Reformed  were  prominent,  as  Schleiermacher,  and 
especially  Eylert,  the  private  court  councilor  to  the  King. 
Francis  Theremim,  the  great  Reformed  court  preacher 
and  pulpit  orator,  whose  treatise  on  Eloquence  as  a  Vir- 
tue is  a  classic,  aided  in  preparing  the  hymn  book  for  the 
united  Church.  Yet  one  cannot  help  noticing  that  most 
of  these  Reformed  leaders  for  union  were  either  inclined 
to  Rationalism,  as  Schleiermacher  and  Eylert,  or  to 
Lutheranism,  as  Hengstenberg  and  Theremim.  But  the 
Reformed  received  the  union  more  heartily  than  the 
Lutherans,  for  they  were  always  more  inclined  to  union. 
Indeed  the  union  was  the  work  of  the  Reformed,  because 
it  was  a  Reformed  King  who  ordered  it,  and  the  concilia- 
tory spirit  of  the  Reformed  that  made  in  possible. 


CHAPTER   I.— SECTION  11. 
THE  NATURE  OF  THE  UNION. 

This  is  a  difficult  subject.  The  uniou  might  be  an 
absorption  of  the  one  denomination  by  the  other,  or  a 
fusion  of  the  two  into  one,  or  a  federation  by  which  each 
remained  distinct.  Exactly  Avhich  of  these  was  meant, 
was  made  more  uncertain  by  the  uncertain  action  of  the 
Prussian  court.  The  first  decree  in  1817  made  it  a  feder- 
ation ;  the  next,  1830  (ordering  the  introduction  of  a 
common  liturgy),  made  it  a  fusion  ;  the  third,  1834,  made 
it  a  federation  by  declaring  that  the  union  did  not  mean 
the  abolition  of  the  creeds  of  the  individual  Churches. 
This  meant  that  the  Reformed  should  retain  their  creed 
and  cultus,  as  before  the  union. 

We  confess  that  Ave  have  had  great  difficulty  in  under- 
standing the  union,  just  because  it  might  mean  so  many 
different  things.  The  fact  was  that  there  were  different 
kinds  of  union.  Thus  the  lowest  kind  of  union  was  sac- 
ramental union,  where  the  Lutherans  and  Reformed  would 
allow  each  other  to  come  to  the  communion  table,  although 
each  congregation  retained  its  creed  as  before.  At  the 
other  extreme  of  union  was  fusion,  in  which  each  gave  up 
its  peculiarities,  and  a  new  Evangelical  congregation  was 
formed  out  of  the  previous  Reformed  and  Lutheran  con- 
gregations.    A  third  kind  of  union  was  a  medium  between 


564  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

these  two  extremes,  a  federation — each  congregation 
remained  as  before  with  its  creed  and  customs.  It  sim- 
ply added  the  word  Evangelical  to  its  previous  name,  and 
allowed  the  ministers  of  the  other  denomination  into  its 
pulpits  and  their  communicants  to  its  communion. 

The  different  phases  of  union  have  also  been  given 
another  way,  according  to  Church  government.  Thus 
(1)  The  closest  union  was  in  the  coiigregation,  when  two 
congregations  agreed  to  unite  into  one.  (2)  There  was 
union  in  a  Synod,  by  w^hich  each  congregation  remained 
Lutheran  or  Reformed,  but  both  denominations  were 
united  in  a  higher  court,  the  Synod.  (3)  A  union  still 
less  close  was  in  the  secular  court  above  the  Synod,  the 
consistory ;  that  is,  the  Synods  remained  Reformed  or 
Lutheran,  but  they  were  united  under  one  consistory. 
Even  here  there  was  a  difference,  for  some  consistories 
were  not  divided  on  the  score  of  denomination,  others 
were.  This  last  was  really  no  union,  and  simply  meant 
that  each  denomination  remained  distinct,  but  was  under 
the  secular  control  of  the  consistory. 

It  may  be  said  in  regard  to  these  different  meanings 
of  the  union  that,  as  a  class,  the  Lutherans  generally 
understood  the  union  to  mean  fusion,  while  the  Reformed 
generally  that  it  meant  federation.  This  difference  will 
explain  some  of  the  acts  of  the  Lutherans,  which  seem 
arbitrary.  These  differences  in  understanding  the  nature 
of  the  union  caused  some  strife,  of  which  we  will  speak 
afterward. 


CHAPTER  II. 
EFFECT  OF  THE  UNION  ON  THE  REFORMED. 

There  were  many  Reformed  churches  in  Germany^  as 
many  as  there  were  Reformed  states  (for  each  state  had  its 
own  Church  organization),  although  they  agreed  in  doc- 
trine. "Some  of  these  churches  that  united  w4th  the  Lu- 
therans were  not  in  the  Prussian  union  at  all,  while  on 
the  other  hand  some  of  the  churches  in  Prussia  did  not 
unite  with  the  Lutherans.  We  will  have,  therefore,  to 
notice  them  separately. 

SECTION  I. 

THE  EFFECT  ON  THE  REFORMED  CHURCHES  THAT 
ENTERED  THE  UNION. 

These  were  of  two  kinds — those  in  Prussia  and  those 
outside  of  Prussia.  The  Prussian  provinces  where  the 
Reformed  entered  the  union,  were  Brandenburg,  Prussia, 
Pomerania,  Silesia,  Posen,  Westphalia  and  Rhine  Prov- 
ince. Of  these  the  Reformed  of  East  and  West  Prussia 
have  their  own  Synod,  which  meets  yearly  and  has  its 
own  inspector,  although  it  is  united  with  the  Lutherans 
under  the  same  consistory.  In  Silesia  the  Reformed  used 
to  have  an  inspector,  but  now  have  none.     In   Pomerania 


566  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

they  have  neither  Classis  nor  inspector,  but  are  part  of 
the  Synod  of  the  United  Church,  although  existing  as 
individual  Reformed  congregations.*  In  Brandenburg 
the  German  Reformed  congregations  have  almost  all  been 
absorbed  in  the  union,  except  the  Bethlehem  church  at 
Berlin,  which,  however,  worships  in  a  union  church  ;  but 
the  property  is  to  be  divided,  its  share  being  75,000  dol- 
lars. Where  there  used  to  be  three  Reformed  churches  in 
Berlin,  the  cathedral.  Parochial  and  Bethlehem,  together 
with  a  Reformed  pastor  placed  at  each  of  the  following 
Lutheran  churches,  the  Jerusalem,  Dorothean  and  Wer- 
der,  there  is  now  only  one  German  Reformed  church,  with 
a  Reformed  pastor.  Rev.  Mr.  Hapke.  Where  there  used 
to  be  four  Reformed  ministers  at  the  cathedral,  three  at 
the  Parochial,  four  military  chaplains  and  one  university 
preacher,  there  is  now  one.  There  are  16,000  Reformed 
in  Berlin,  for  whom  there  is  only  the  Bethlehem  church. 
The  United  Church  has  steadily  pursued  the  policy  of  try- 
ing to  strangle  both  this  church  and  the  Freuch  Reformed 
Church  there  by  allowing  only  those  to  belong  to  it  who 
are  descendents  of  Bohemians  or  of  Huguenots,  thus  cut- 
•ting  them  off  from  evangelizing  among  the  Germans, 
where  they  would  have  room  to  grow.  The  French  Church 
there  has  four  churches,  the  French  cathedral,  the  cloister, 
the  Louisa  City  and  the  hospital.     The  French  Synod, 


"•••  In  Silesia  is  a  small  Reformed,  or  rather  Presbyterian,  body,  consisting 
of  three  charges  and  440  communicants,  and  accepting  the  Westminster  con- 
fession.    It  was  founded  by  the  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church. 


THE    REFOKMED    IN    THE    UNION.  567 

to    which    this  Church   in   Berlin  belongs,  is  a  separate 
Synod  of  the  United  Church. 

In  the  western  provinces  of  Prussia  the  Reformed  are 
as  strong  as  they  are  weak  in  the  eastern  part.  In  West- 
phalia three  of  the  Synods  of  the  United  Church  are 
entirely  Reformed — Siegen,  Sayn  and  Tecklenburg.  The 
Reformed  have  an  excellent  representative  in  the  United 
consistory  in  Rev.  S.  Goebel  of  Munster.  In  the  Rhine 
province  they  are  allowed  still  larger  liberty.  Many  of 
the  congregations  are  still  intensely  Reformed,  as  Elber- 
feld.  Outside  of  Prussia  other  states  accepted  the  union. 
The  Reformed  and  Lutheran  Churches  were  united  in 
the  following  provinces  not  incorporated  in  Prussia, 
namely  Bavarian  Palatinate,  Baden,  the  Grand  Duchy  of 
Hesse  and  Anhalt.  In  the  first  two  the  Reformed  were 
entirely  absorbed  in  the  union,  and  we  need  not  follow 
their  history.  It  is  a  sad  fact  that  Heidelberg,  the  birth- 
place of  the  Reformed  in  Germany,  no  longer  knows  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism.  In  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Hesse 
there  still  exist  a  number  of  Reformed  congregations,  who 
are  now  rejoicing  that  they  again  have  been  granted  the 
use  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  In  Anhalt  the  Reformed 
have  all  been  absorbed  in  the  union,  except,  perhaps,  five 
or  six  congregations. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  11. 

REFORMED  CHURCHES  NOT  IN  THE  UNION. 

There  were  quite  a  number  of  the  Reformed  churches 
in  Germany  that  never  entered  the  union.  The  Ger- 
man states  that  were  united  to  Prussia  after  1817  did  not 
have  the  Prussian  union  introduced  into  them.  They 
were  Hanover,  Nassau  and  Electoral  Hesse.  One  of 
them,  Nassau,  however  introduced  the  union  before  it  was 
ioined  to  Prussia,  and  so  fully  introduced  it  as  to  entirely 
destroy  the  Reformed  consciousness.  It  is  a  sad  fact  to 
the  Reformed  that  the  burial-place  of  Olevianus  at  Her- 
born  in  Nassau,  as  well  as  the  burial-place  of  Ursinus  at 
Neustadt  in  the  Palatinate,  do  not  know  either  of  these 
men  any  longer,  for  they  have  left  the  Reformed  faith  of 
these  reformers.  When  Olevianus'  tablet  in  the  church 
at  Herborn  became  broken  through  age,  it  was  left  for  a 
foreign  Reformed  Church — "  The  Reformed  Church  of 
the  United  States" — to  replace  it  with  a  new  and  beautiful 
tablet ;  which  that  Church  did  very  gladly,  because  she 
reveres  his  character  and  doctrine.  But  in  the  other 
two  annexed  provinces,  Hanover  and  Electoral  Hesse, 
they  are  not  united.  In  Hanover  the  Reformed  existed 
for   a   long   time   under   a    united    consistory,  although 


CHURCHES    OUTSIDE   THE    UNION.  569 

the  East  Friesland  Reformed  church  had  a  member  in  the 
consistory.  But  in  1885  their  first  General  Synod  was 
granted  them.  In  this  church  is  the  Coetus  of  Emden, 
the  oldest  Reformed  organization  in  Germany,  having 
been  founded  by  Lasco  in  1544.  It  now  has  no  ecclesi- 
astical authority,  and  meets  about  four  times  a  year.* 

In  Electoral  Hesse  the  large  Reformed  church  never 
officially  entered  the  Union,  except  in  one  of  its  districts, 
Hanau.  Here  the  Union  was  called  "  sl  bookbinder's 
union,''  because  the  Lutheran  and  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chisms were  bound  together  into  one  book,  so  that  either 
could  be  used.  Thus  each  congregation  retained  its  creed. 
Outside  of  Hanau  the  Hessian  Church  is  not  united,  but 
each  denomination  has  its  own  superintendent.  The  uni- 
versity of  Marburg,  however,  was  made  United  in  1822. 

Besides  these  congregations  in  provinces,  which  were 
incorporated  in  Prussia,  there  are  a  number  of  Reformed 
churches  in  states  that  never  came  under  the  control  of 
Prussia.  Of  course  the  Union  was  not  introduced  into 
them,  and  they  are  now  distinct. 

A)  In  Bavaria  there  is  a  small  Reformed  Synod  (the 
descendent  of  the  Huguenot  Reformed  Synod  of  the  seven- 
teenth century),  which  held  its  first  Synod  in  1856. 

•■■•  There  is  in  Hanover  a  small  Old  Reformed  Church,  composed  of  congre- 
gations formed  from  the  Christian  Church  of  Holland.  It  is  highly  Calvin- 
istic,  and  accepts,  in  addition  to  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  the  Canons  of  Dort 
and  the  Belgic  Confession,  but  is  a  small  ttody, 

37 


570  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

B)  Lippe  contains  a  large  and  well  organized  Reformed 
Church,  divided  into  three  classes  under  the  ducal  (Re- 
formed) consistory.  The  Count  of  Lippe  Detmold  is 
one  of  the  few  Reformed  princes  yet  remaining  in  Ger- 
many, and  is  a  wealthy  and  wise  ruler. 

C)  The  city  of  Bremen  is  still  Reformed,  as  it  never 
officially  entered  the  union,  although  the  city  council 
placed  a  Lutheran  pastor  at  some  of  the  Reformed 
churches.  But  the  Liebfrau,  St.  Martin's,  St.  Stephen's 
and  St.  Michael's  are  still  exclusively  Reformed.  At  St. 
Stephen's  is  the  famous  pulpit  orator.  Otto  Funcke,  whose 
sermons  and  works  are  so  popular  and  helpful. 

D)  Another  Reformed  church  that  has  never  entered 
the  union,  is  the  Reformed  church  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine. 
This  church  had  been  a  part  of  the  French  Reformed 
Church  up  to  1871,  when  that  province  was  ceded  to 
Germany.     It  consists  of  four  consistories. 

E)  The  Lower  Saxon  Confederation,  composed  of  the 
churches  at  Gottingen,  Hanover,  etc.,  was  organized  1703, 
and  is  a  relic  of  the  Brunswick  Huguenot  Synod.  It  has 
a  thoroughly  presbyterial  organization  in  its  congrega- 
tions, and  its  Synod  meets  every  six  years. 

F)  The  Synod  of  the  province  of  Saxony  was  organ- 
ized in  1864,  and  contained  the  Reformed  congregations 
around  Halle  and  Magdeburg. 

G)  Besides  these  there  are  scattered  Reformed  con- 
gregations, as  in  Hamburg,  Leipsic,  Dresden,  Frankford, 
etc.,  some  of  which  are  quite  strong. 


REFOKMED    STATISTICS.  571 

There  are  in  all  the  German  states  about  800  Re- 
formed congregations  and  about  a  million  and  a  third  of 
adherents.*  Their  Church  government  is  as  follows : 
One  General  Synod  (Hanover),  five  Synods  (East  and 
West  Prussia,  French  Reformed  of  Brandenburg,  Con- 
federation of  Lower  Saxony,  Confederation  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Saxony,  and  the  Synod  of  Bavaria).  One  Church 
is  divided  into  Classes  (Lippe),  and  one  into  consistories 
(Alsace-Lorraine).  Of  these  churches  about  two-fifths 
are  in  the  United  Church  and  three-fifths  are  not 
(450,000  in  the  union,  to  750,000  outside  of  it).t  These 
statistics  are  proved  by  Rev.  Dr.  Brandes,  who  says  that 
of  the  one  million  and  a  third  Reformed  in  Germany  three 
to  four  hundred  thousand  have  entered  the  union. { 
Professor  George  Schodde  says  that  there  are  ten  Re- 
formed Churches,  seven  United  Reformed  and  Lutheran 
Churches,  four  Confederated  Reformed  and  Lutheran 
Churches  in  Germany.  §  These  statistics  show  that  there 
are  more  Reformed  outside  of  the  union  than  in  it.  One 
of  our  American  professors  said  some  years  ago  that  there 
was  no  Reformed  church  any  more  in  Germany,  that  all 
had  gone  into  the  union.  He  simply  displayed  his  igno- 
rance. These  statistics  prove  him  wrong,  as  do  the  Min- 
utes of  the  Reformed  Conference  held  at  Marburg  in  1884. 

*  Some  place  it  as  high  as  a  million  and  a  half. 

f  See  next  chapter  for  detailed  statistics. 

i  See  Berlin  Reformed  Kirchenzeitung,  August  19,  1884. 

^  See  Homiletic  Review,  July,  1894,  p.  4. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  III. 

OPPRESSIONS    OF   THE    REFORMED   BY  THE  UNITED 
CHURCH. 

The  Reformed  were  hardly  in  the  union  before  the 
Lutheran  majority  began  to  oppress  them.  The  first  act 
was  to  take  away  the  Reformed  universities,  which  were 
either  given  up  or  merged  in  the  union  universities,  so 
that  where  the  Reformed  used  to  have  eight  universities 
(Marburg,  Heidelberg,  Herborn,  Duisburg,  Frankford  on 
the  Oder,  Berg-Steinfurt,  Lingen  and  Bremen),  they  now 
have  none,  if  we  may  except  only  the  French  gymnasium 
at  Berlin,  which  is  intended  only  for  French  students,  so 
as  to  supply  the  French  churches  of  Brandenburg  with 
ministers.  There  is  only  one  Reformed  theological  pro- 
fessorship in  Germany,  namely  at  Erlangen,  although 
there  are  some  theological  professors  who  are  Reformed  in 
their  sympathies,  as  Achelis  in  Marburg*  and  Sieffert  at 
Bonn  ;  but  these  are  not  Reformed  professorships,  so  their 
successors  may  be  Lutherans.  The  chair  of  Reformed 
theology  at  Strasburg,  held  by  Krauss,  has  not  been 
filled.      Because   the   Reformed  universities   were   taken 

*  Achelis,  however,  is  a  Ritschlian — their  leader  in  pastoral  theology. 
Against  him  and  his  colleagues  at  Marburg  the  Reformed  superintendent  of 
Hesse  has  just  nobly  issued  his  protest. 


OPPRESSIONS    OF   REFORMED.  573 

away,  very  soon  the  Eeformed  congregations  could  not 
be  supplied  with  Eeformed  pastors,  and  had  to  take  Lu- 
therans or  Evangelicals.  Their  plan  was,  for  these  Luther- 
anizing  ministers  to  gradually  introduce  Luther's  cate- 
chism, instead  of  the  Heidelberg,  and  the  Lutheran  cultus, 
as  altars,  responses,  etc.,  instead  of  the  simple  Reformed 
worship.  Thus  the  Lutherans  in  the  union  hoped  to 
absorb  the  Reformed.  Of  course  all  this  was  contrary  to 
the  understanding  that  the  Reformed  had  of  the  union,  for 
in  it  they  were  guaranteed  their  creed  and  cultus  by  law. 

Several  cases  of  ecclesiastical  oppression  have  been 
especially  noticeable.  In  Halle  the  Union  was  not  intro- 
duced until  1830,  when  the  United  consistory,  finding  the 
Reformed  congregation  unwilling  to  enter  the  Union, 
brought  pressure  to  bear  on  them,  and  on  June  25  forced 
them  to  use  the  Prussian  liturgy  with  its  altar,  Scripture 
lessons  and  recitation  of  the  creed,  all  of  which  had  never 
been  used  by  the  Reformed  there.  The  Reformed  felt 
this  so  great  an  injustice  that  the  reaction  against  it  ulti- 
mately prepared  for  the  formation  of  the  present  confer- 
ence of  the  province  of  Saxony. 

The  oppression  at  Elberfeld  proved  more  serious. 
The  Reformed  congregations  of  Berg  for  about  a  century 
and  a  half  had  not  used  a  liturgy,  when  the  Prussian  gov- 
ernment ordered  them  to  use  its  liturgy,  with  its  candles, 
altars  and  the  making  of  the  sign  of  the  cross  at  the  bene- 
diction.    All  of  these  things  seemed   to  the  staunch  Re- 


574  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

formed  of  Elberfeld  to  be  Romanizing.  They  bravely 
refused  to  accept  them,  until  the  commissioner  of  the 
government  threatened  the  ministers  with  a  deposition, 
which  he  held  in  his  pocket  ready  for  use.  So  the  con- 
gregation was  compelled  to  use  the  liturgy,  although  the 
government  finally  permitted  them  to  leave  out  the  parts 
in  it  most  objectionable,  as  the  responses,  for  the  Reformed 
of  Germany  have  no  responses.  But  a  large  and  influen- 
tial part  of  the  Reformed  at  Elberfeld  abstained  from 
going  to  church  or  to  communion,  and  did  not  have  their 
children  baptized  or  confirmed.  Time  did  not  heal  the 
breach.  So  these  Reformed,  who  were  dissatisfied  with 
the  liturgy,  formed  themselves  into  a  sejDarate  congrega- 
tion and  called  Kohlbriigge.  As  they  did  not  wish  to  be 
considered  separatistic,  they  allied  themselves  with  the 
Reformed  Church  pf  HollancL,  and  accepted,  in  addition 
to  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  the  Belgic  Confession  and 
the  Canons  of  Dort,  although  they  used  the  German  Re- 
formed hymn  book.  The  congregation  has  been  noted 
for  its  strict  adherence  to  the  Reformed  confessions  and 
for  its  Church  discipline  and  charity. 

These  oppressions  were  followed  by  others  in  Eastern 
Germany,  where  the  Reformed  were  few  and  weak.  The 
United  consistory  of  Silesia  tried  to  make  the  Reformed 
ministers  take  their  oath  of  ordination  on  the  Lutheran 
creeds.  But  the  Reformed  appealed  to  the  upper  consis- 
tory at  Berlin,  and  gained  their  case.     Then  this  Silesian 


OPPRESSIONS    OF    REFORMED.  575 

consistory  separated  the  branch  Reformed  congregations 
from  their  mother  Churches,  and  put  them  under  the  care 
of  neighboring  Lutheran  pastors.  Up  to  1830  the 
Reformed  had  an  inspector  named  Wunster.  When  he 
died^  the  Silesian  consistory  refused  to  appoint  a  succes- 
sor. The  Reformed  appealed  to  the  upper  consistory  at 
Berlin,  and  the  Silesian  consistory  finally  appointed 
Wunster's  brother  superintendent  of  a  district  in  the 
United  Church,  but  not  a  Reformed  inspector.  Thus 
they  paved  the  way  for  having  no  Reformed  official  at 
all  when  he  died.  They  even  forbade  the  Reformed  of 
the  Bohemian  churches  there  to  use  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism in  their  own  language.  All  this  prepared  the  way 
for  a  climax  of  oppression  ;  for  oppression,  if  left  to  itself, 
will  run  riot  ultimately.  The  Reformed  congregation  at 
Breslau  in  Silesia  had  had  its  Reformed  confession  guar- 
anteed to  it  by  the  Berlin  upper  consistory,  when  it 
entered  the  Union ;  but  in  spite  of  this  a  Lutheran  minis- 
ter named  Falk  became  one  of  its  pastors  in  1839,  as  he 
said  he  believed  the  Reformed  doctrine  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  He  soon,  however,  showed  his  Lutheran  sym- 
pathies. He  introduced  wafers  instead  of  bread,  and  the 
Reformed  school  had  to  use  the  Lutheran  catechism. 
He  tried  to  get  Lutherans  to  join  the  church,  so  that  he 
might  gain  the  majority  in  the  congregation  and  carry  it 
into  the  United  Church.  Finally  he  resigned  in  1855. 
Then  Gillet,  the  other  Reformed  pastor  of  the  congrega- 


576  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

tion,  published  a  book  entitled  "  Falk's  Farewell  Sermon 
and  its  History/'  in  which  he  unveiled  many  oppres- 
sions of  the  Reformed  in  Silesia.  But  for  his  plain 
statements  of  the  facts  a  civil  charge  was  brought  against 
him  of  slandering  a  fellow  minister.  He  was  brought 
before  the  court  and  ordered  to  pay  a  fine  of  $250  and  be 
imprisoned  two  months.  This  was  afterwards  reduced 
to  $75  and  ten  days  imprisonment.  Thus  this  excellent 
man,  for  stating  the  truth  and  defending  the  rights  of  the 
Reformed,  had  to  suffer  martyrdom. 

Anhalt  reveals  a  similar  history  for  the  control  of  the 
Reformed.  The  Union  had  been  introduced  into  Anhalt 
Dessau  and  Anhalt  Bernburg,  but  not  into  Anhalt  Cothen 
till  1880.  Having  at  last  gained  control  of  all  these 
duchies  of  Anhalt,  the  Lutheran  ministers  in  the  Union 
have  just  decided  (1892)  to  supercede  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism  by  the  Lutheran.  Thus  the  Reformed  cate- 
chism is  ordered  out  of  a  land,  where  formerly  it  was 
used  by  two-thirds  of  the  population. 

Even  in  Reformed  organizations  not  in  the  LTnion, 
efforts  were  made  to  proselyte  them  over  to  the  Luther- 
ans. Thus  in  1850  Yilmar,  a  prominent  Reformed  min- 
ister, and  Hassenpflug,  the  civil  prime  minister,  tried  to 
make  it  appear  that  the  Reformed  Church  of  Hesse  was 
a  pseudo-Reformed  Church  (that  is,  a  Melancthonian 
Church),  and  that  the  official  creed  of  Hesse-Cassel  was 
the  Augsburg  Conlession,  and  not  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 


VILMAR    AND    HEPPE.  577 

chism.  But  a  Church  that  had  beeu  for  more  than  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years  rated  as  Reformed,  could  not  be 
made  Lutheran  without  friction.  The  protests  against 
this  effort  were  led  by  Professor  Heppe,  who  declared 
that  the  Landgrave  Maurice  made  the  Church  Reformed 
in  1604 ;  that  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  was  officially 
sanctioned,  by  the  school  orders  of  1656,  1726  and  1777, 
as  a  symbolical  book  in  the  schools  in  1719  ;  that  Land- 
pTave  Charles  took  sides  as  a  Reformed  Prince  ao;aiust 
the  oppressions  of  the  Reformed  in  the  Palatinate,  and 
called  Professor  Kirchmeier  to  Marburg,  because  he  was 
so  zealous  in  the  Reformed  faith  ;  besides,  the  Cassel  con- 
sistory in  1834,  when  orthodoxy  began  to  gain  power 
again  over  the  receding  Rationalism,  ordered  the  Hei- 
delberg Catechism  to  be  reintroduced  into  the  schools. 
Vilmar  attacked  these  views,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to 
show  personal  spite  against  Heppe,  as  by  using  his 
influence  against  Hej^pe's  appointment  as  professor  of 
Reformed  theology  at  Vienna,  and  delaying  his  appoint- 
ment as  professor  at  Marburg.  The  faculty  of  Marburg 
gave  an  opinion  (1855),  stating  that  the  Hessian  Church 
was  a  Reformed  Church.  The  result  of  this  unfortunate 
controversy  w-as  that  Vilmar  gained  quite  a  follow^ing 
among  the  ministers  in  Hesse-Cassel,  but  the  Reformed 
organized  a  conference  at  Treysa  to  protect  themselves. 

Other  oppressions  that  came  in  under  the  guise  of  the 
union  and  peace  might  be  noticed,   had   we  time.     Thus 


578  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

the  French  gymnasium  at  Berlin  was  endowed  for  the 
Reformed,  and  yet  Lather's  catechism  has  been  used  in 
it  again  and  again.  A  number  of  Reformed  endowments 
have  been  perverted.  The  lions  Fietatis  endowment 
($75,000)  given  by  King  Frederick  I.  in  1696  for  needy 
Reformed  refugees,  has  been  used  for  the  United  Church, 
and  not  for  the  Reformed,  for  whom  it  was  intended. 
The  result  of  all  these  unjust  continuous  oppressions  has 
been  greatly  to  the  injury  of  the  Reformed.  Where  there 
used  to  be  300,000  Reformed  south  of  the  Main  river  in 
Western  Germany,  there  are  now  only  3000.  In  Nassau, 
as  in  Anhalt,  the  Reformed*  consciousness  is  gone.  In 
Westphalia  there  are  only  70  congregations,  where 
there  used  to  be  110.  And  how  often  has  the  Lutheran 
catechism  forced  out  the  Heidelberg,  and  Lutheran  altars, 
crucifixes  and  responses,  etc.,  come  in  to  take  the  place  of 
the  simple  Reformed  service.  The  Palatinate,  the  birth- 
place of  the  Reformed  Church  in  Germany,  does  not 
know  her  any  more.  It  looked  as  if  the  Reformed 
Church  would  be  swallowed  up  in  the  Union  and  be  lost. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  REVIYAL  OF  REFORMED  CONSCIOUSNESS. 

The  ecclesiastical  oppressions  have  caused  a  reaction 
among  the  Reformed  into  Confessionalism.  They  saw 
that  the  Lutheran  majority  in  the  Union  was  using  the 
Union  as  a  means  to  wipe  out  the  Reformed.  They,  there- 
fore, felt  that  they  must  do  something  to  save  themselves, 
and  so  they  began  taking  steps  to  demand  their  rights, 
namely  equality  of  confessions  and  cultus  with  the  Lu- 
therans. This  revival  of  Reformed  consciousness  may  be 
said  to  have  begun  in  1850  at  the  diet  of  the  United 
Church  held  at  Stuttgard,  when  twenty-eight  of  the  Re- 
formed gathered  together  and  discussed  the  dying  condi- 
tion of  the  Reformed.  It  was  decided  to  start  a  Reformed ' 
Church  paper,  and  so  the  Reformlrte  Kirchenzeitung 
began  its  existence.  The  Reformed  also  began  publish- 
ing, 1861,  the  excellent  series  of  books  entitled  '^  The 
Fathers  and  Founders  of  the  Reformed  Church.''  The 
Lutherans  had  published  their  "  Fathers  of  the  Church," 
and  the  Reformed  felt  their  own  reformers  were  just  as 
worthy  of  remembrance.  This  series  is  an  excellent 
monument  to  the  fathers  of  the  sixteenth  century  by  their 
children  of  tlie  nineteenth.     The  Reformed   began  hold- 


580  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

ino"   conferences.     Thus  the  Hanoverian  Church    held  a 

o 

conference  at  Lingen,  July  13,  1853,  to  agitate  the  rights 
of  the  Reformed  of  Hanover,  and  the  General  Synod  of 
Hanover  may  be  said  to  be  the  ultimate  result  of  all  this. 
The  Reformed  Synod  of  East  and  West  Prussia  began 
holding  regular  sessions  in  1853.  A  Reformed  confer- 
ence was  held  at  Elberfeld,  1858,  and  at  Emden,  1859. 
A  large  conference  was  held  at  Detmold,  July  8,  1863,  on 
the  jubilee  of  the  publication  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism. 
The  fifth  and  last  of  these  conferences  was  held  at  Elber- 
feld,  1867.  The  interest  in  the  movement  to  revive  the 
Reformed  consciousness  seemed  to  have  passed  away  by 
1867.  The  Kirchenzeitung  was  the  only  Reformed  paper 
then  in  Germany.  It  looked  as  if  the  Reformed  Church 
would  die  out. 

But  in  1877  twenty  members  gathered  together  at 
Elberfeld  and  founded  a  new  Refonnirte  Kirchenzeitung, 
to  take  the  place  of  the  old  one  published  at  Detmold  by 
Theleman.  A  publication  society  was  formed  at  Bar- 
men and  a  Reformed  association  at  Hanover.  Another 
sign  of  reviving  consciousness  was  the  reintroduction  of 
the  Heidelberg  Catechism  into  churches  from  which  Ra- 
tionalism had  driven  it  out.  Finally  the  fourth  centen- 
nial of  Zwingli's  birth,  in  1884,  led  a  number  of  promi- 
nent Reformed  to  call  a  conference  at  Marburg,  Aug.  19, 
1884.  At  this  the  only  place  in  Germany  that  Zwingli 
was  linked  to  his  adherents,  they   determined  to   make  a 


THE    REFORMED    ALLIANCE.  581 

new  start.  There,  where  Zwingli  had  offered  his  hand  to 
Luther,  so  as  to  unite,  they  determined  to  unite  among 
themselves.  This  they  did  by  forming  a  Reformed  Alli- 
ance (Bund).  This  Reformed  Alliance,  under  the  presi- 
dency of  Rev.  Dr.  F.  Brandes  of  Biickeburg,  and  with 
Rev.  H.  Calaminus  of  Elberfeld  as  secretary,  has  held 
several  meetings  since  then ;  the  last  one  at  Emden  in 
1893,  where  it  reported  its  membership  had  grown  to  two 
Synods  (Bavaria  and  Prussia),  one  consistory  (Strasburg) 
and  twenty-nine  individual  congregations,  making,  with 
those  in  the  Synod,  fifty-five  in  all.  Besides  these,  there 
are  about  fifteen  different  Reformed  societies  in  it,  and 
also  about  1500  individual  members.  Though  so  young 
an  organization,  it  has  shown  a  healthy  growth,  especially 
when  the  great  odds  against  it  are  considered.  It  has  not 
merely  drawn  the  Reformed  together  and  prevented  them 
from  further  disintegrating,  but  it  has  also  developed  a 
number  of  activities.  It  has  held  local  conferences,  recom- 
mended new  Reformed  books,  aided  weak  Reformed  con- 
gregations with  money,  notably  the  Reformed  church  at 
Osnabruck,  for  whose  endowment  it  raised  $15,000.  It 
is  now  aiming  to  build  a  Reformed  church  in  Berlin. 
The  Reformed  Alliance  has  fostered  new  theological  semi- 
naries, so  as  to  provide  the  Reformed  congregations  with 
Reformed  ministers.  Two  of  these  seminaries  are  at 
present  in  operation,  one  at  Berlin  under  Rev.  Mr.  Hapke, 
and  the  other  at  Halle  under  the  head  care  of  Rev.  Mr. 


582  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

Goebel,  pastor  of  the  cathedral  there.  The  Reformed  are 
also  talking  of  starting  another  theological  seminary  at 
Elberfeld,  and  although  the  government  has  refused  to 
grant  their  request  for  it,  it  is  probable  they  will  go 
ahead  and  endow  it  themselves. 

Another  cheering  sign  is  the  increasing  number  of 
church  papers.  Where  there  was  only  one  in  1876,  there 
now  are  eleven.*  The  granting  of  a  Synod  to  the  Re- 
formed of  Hanover,  and  lately  the  permission  to  the 
Reformed  of  Hesse  Darmstadt  to  have  their  Heidelberg 
Catechism,  greatly  encouraged  the  Reformed,  and  they 
are  now  demanding  their  rights  for  the  interest  of  the 
Mons  Pietatis  endowment.  We  trust  that  the  Reformed 
Alliance  will  gradually  prepare  the  way,  as  providence 
leads,  for  some  organization  among  the  Reformed  of  Ger- 
many like  the  unofficial  Synod  of  the  French  Reformed 
Church. 

For  it  certainly  would  be  a  sad  day  for  the  United 
Church  of  Germany,  as  well  as  for  the  Reformed,  if  the 
Reformed  were  to  die  out.  For  she  needs  the  Reformed 
element  in  her,  as  well  as  the  Lutheran.     D'Aubigne,  in 


-  The  Wochen-Blntt  at  Elberfeld,  Reformirte  Kirchenzeitung  of  Miiller  at 
Berlin,  Neue  Reformirte  Kirchenzeitung  at  Berlin,  Die  Colnnie  at  Berlin,  Ber 
Grenzhote  in  East  Friesland,  Sonntagshlatt  in  Lippe,  Geschichts- Blaetter  des 
Deutschen  Hugenotten  Vereius  at  Magdeburg,  Ber  Einige  Trost  in  Hanover, 
Ber  Pilger  at  Barmen.  Of  these  Mtiller's  Kirchenzeitung  is  the  organ  of  the 
Reformed  Alliance,  the  Gesehichts-Blaetter  the  organ  of  the  Huguenot  Society 
■of  Germany,  and  Bie  Gnlonie  of  the  Huguenots  of  Berlin.  An  excellent 
popular  paper  for  Church  members  is  Ber  Einige  Trost. 


THE    KEFORMED    NEEDED.  583 

his  eloquent  address  at  the  Church  Diet  of  1863,  said  that 
^^  he  feared  an  excess  of  the  Lutheran  spirit — the  increase 
of  the  traditional,  cereraonial,  hierarchical  element  against 
the  freer,  believing  Keformed  Church.  The  passivity  of 
the  Lutheran  Church  must  be  moulded  by  the  activity  of 
the  Reformed.''  The  president  of  the  Brandenburg  Synod, 
Von  Achenbach,  said  in  that  Synod,  October  27,  1890  :  "  I 
fear  that  a  part  of  the  members  of  our  Synod  and  Church 
are  inclined  too  much  to  the  Episcopal  Church  govern- 
ment. If  this  is  carried  out,  large  districts  cannot  remain 
in  the  Church.  I  can  not  guarantee  for  myself,  if  this 
trend  in  the  United  Church  toward  sacramentarianism 
and  High  Churchism  is  not  stopped."  Not  Bismarck, 
but  one  of  his  successors,  may  yet  have  to  go  to  Canossa 
to  bow  before  the  Pope,  if  the  High  Churchism  in  the 
United  Church  is  not  counterbalanced  by  something. 
The  power  to  counteract  this  lies  only  in  the  Reformed 
Church.  Her  Calvinism,  like  its  founder,  has  always 
been  the  bitterest  foe  of  the  Pope.  The  simple  service  of 
the  Reformed  is  a  perpetual  safeguard  against  Romaniz- 
ing tendencies.  Tollin,  in  his  History  of  the  Reformed 
of  Magdeburg,  tells  the  story  that  the  King  of  Prussia 
once  sent  a  cross  to  one  of  the  Reformed  congregations  in 
the  Mark  Brandenburg.  The  minister,  greatly  appreciat- 
ing the  kindness  of  the  King,  placed  it  on  the  communion 
table  (for  altar  they  had  none).  But  when  the  Reformed 
people  came  into  the  church   for  service,   they  were   so 


584  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

greatly  surprised  at  the  innovation,  that  the  elders  came 
to  the  minister  and  told  him  that  it  must  be  put  away,  as 
it  was  not  Reformed.  What  could  the  poor  minister  do  ? 
To  leave  it  in  the  church  would  be  to  disobey  his  people, 
but  to  take  it  away  would  be  to  disobey  his  King.  But 
the  elders  persisted  and  declared  that  they  would  not 
come  to  service  as  long  as  it  was  there,  and  they  did  not. 
Finally  the  minister  compromised  matters  by  putting  it 
in  the  anteroom,  which  was  used  by  the  minister,  and 
then  the  congregation  come  back  to  the  service.  In  view 
of  this  it  is  evident  that  the  United  Church  herself  needs 
the  Reformed  within  herself  to  counterbalance  the  ten- 
dencies to  sacramentarianism.  The  continued  existence 
of  the  Reformed  Church  is  therefore  as  necessary  to  the 
welfare  of  the  United  Church  as  to  herself  Calvin,  it 
is  said,  once  saved  Germany  from  the  danger  of  coquet- 
ting with  Rome  at  Ratisbon,  and  Calvin's  adherents  may 
yet  be  needed  to  preserve  Germany  from  making  a  simi- 
lar mistake.  Germany  must  be  saved  from  Rome  at  all 
hazards,  for  she  is  the  citadel  of  Protestantism  in  Europe. 
Let  Germany  be  lost,  and  Europe  will  be  lost  to  Protest- 
antism. In  this  great  mission  of  preserving  Germany  for 
Protestantism  and  from  Rome  the  Reformed  Church  is 
needed. 

Germany  and  the  United  Church  also  need  the  Re- 
formed Church  against  Rationalism,  as  much  as  against 
Romanism.     The  emphasis  that  the  Reformed  have   laid 


NECESSITY    OF   REFORMED    CHURCH.  585 

on  grace  and  salvation  by  grace,  has  made  it  the  opposite 
of  salvation  by  works  or  by  the  reason.  It  has  empha- 
sized man's  depravity  against  the  Hegelian  idea  of  man's 
goodness.  Its  doctrine  of  divine  sovereignty  is  needed 
against  the  rationalistic  doctrine  of  man's  sovereignty. 
Its  emphasis  on  experience  and  continual  tendency  to 
Pietism  is  the  best  corrective  to  Rationalism.  Thus  the 
Reformed  Church  is  still  needed  in  Germany,  that  that 
great  and  noble  land  may  be  protected  from  Rationalism 
on  the  one  hand  and  Romanism  on  the  other,  and  be  able 
to  do  greater  things  in  the  future  for  God  than  ever  she 
has  done  in  the  past.  We  trust  she  will  yet  exert  a  most 
benign  influence  on  the  future  history  of  the  fatherland. 


38 


BOOK  VII. 


CONCLUSION. 


CHAPTER  I. 
STATISTICS. 

* 

We  have  thus  completed  the  histoiy  of  the  Reformed 
Church  of  Germany.*  It  only  remains  to  speak  of  the 
position  and  condition  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Ger- 
many. Into  the  cultus  of  the  Church  we  have  not  time 
to  enter,  for  our  book  has  already  greatly  exceeded  its 
intended  limits.  Moreover,  the  cultus  is  treated  quite 
fully  in  the  ^'  Origin  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Ger- 
many.f  For  the  position  we  there  took,  that  altars  were 
not  Reformed,  we  were  attacked  by  the  esteemed  editor 
of  the  Reformed  Church  Bevieiv.  We  have  examined  and 
are  ready  to  quote  twenty  Church  orders  or  Synodical 
actions  of  the  various  Reformed  Churches  of  Germany  and 
Switzerland,  and  sixteen  Reformed  Church  historians  (and 
are  prepared  to  quote  them,  if  necessary),  to  show  that 

*  "  The  Origin  of  the  Reformed   Church   of  Germany"  gives  the  history 
down  to  1620,  and  this  book  completes  it. 
t  Page  445. 


ALTARS    NOT    REFORMED.  587 

the  Reformed  had  only  a  communion  table,  and  not 
an  altar.  They  are  the  Palatinate,  Emden,  Bremen, 
Brandenburg,  Bentheim,  Tecklenburg,  Anhalt-Bernburg, 
Anhalt-Cothen,  Baireuth  (French),  Hanau,  Frankford, 
Solms,  Braunfels,  Siegen,  Nassau-Dillenburg,  Nassau- 
Dietz,  Lippe,  London  (Lasco),  Hesse,  Wesel,  Julich,  Cleve, 
Berg  and  Rhenish  province  Church  orders.*  Sixteen  of 
the  leading  Church  historians  bear  the  same  testimony — 
Steubing,  Cuno,  Herzog,  Heppe,  Zahn,  -Clemen,  Hausser, 
Goebel,  Wolters,  Hering,  Treviranus,  Ebrard,  Tollin,  E. 
Krummacher  and  Calminus.  Since  all  these  men.  Synods, 
Church  orders,  liturgies  and  countries  agree  on  this  point, 
we  cannot  but  be  fully  convinced  that  the  Reformed 
Church  of  Germany  never  recognized  altars.  These  reveal 
that  there  is  only  one  answer  of  history,  and  that  is  that 
altars  in  Reformed  churches  are  uu-Reformed.  Such 
unanimous  testimony  ought  to  be  heeded  by  those  in  the 
Reformed  Church  of  the  United  States  who  are  trying  to 
bring  in  the  altar  and  altar  service.  In  doing  so  they 
are  not  true  to  the  historic  position  of ,  the  Reformed 
Church. 

We  have  only  space  to  present  the  statistical  and  doc- 
trinal position  of  the  Reformed  Church.  Its  adherents 
are  as  follows  : 

*  We  have  space  for  only  a  few  of  them  in  the  Appendix.     We  will  pub- 
lish them  in  full  in  the  second  edition  of  the  "  Origin  of  the  Reformed  Church." 


588 


THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 


IN   THE 

UNION. 

East  and  West  Prussia,           .         .           18,183 

Pomerania,    .... 

2,720 

Brandenburg, 

16,000 

Silesia, 

6,150 

Posen,  .... 

5,100 

Rhine  Provinces,  . 

247,567 

Westphalia, 

80,000 

Grand  Dachy  of  Hesse, 

68,286 

Total, 

444,006 

OUTSIDE    OF   THE   UNION. 

Hanover, 108,000 

Hesse-Cassel, 

381,652 

Bavaria, 

3,000 

Lippe, 

114,169 

Bremen, 

42,637 

Alsace, 

49,919 

Lower  Saxony, 

11,000 

Province  of  Saxony, 

11,796 

Hamburg, 

8,221 

Oldenburg,    . 

1,443 

Lubeck, 

500 

Butzow, 

150 

Kingdom  of  Saxony  (Leipsic,  etc.). 

7,600 

Frankford,     .... 

7,350 

Netherlands  Church  of  Elberfeld, 

1,300 

Free  Reformed  Church  c 

fEas 

tFrie 

sland,    2,261 

Total, 


750,998 


CHAPTER  II. 

ITS   DOCTRINAL   POSITION.— IS  IT   MELANC- 
THONIAN  OR  CALYINISTIC  ? 


SECTION  I. 
THE  PHRASE  "  MELANCTHONIAN-CALVINISTIC." 

This  question,  whether  the  Reformed  Church  is 
MelancthoDian  or  Calvinistic,  has  come  up  since  the 
union  of  the  Reformed  and  Lutheran  Churches  in  Ger- 
many. Some  of  the  unionists  have  tried  to  prove  that 
the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany  was  different  from 
other  Reformed  Churches,  by  being  a  Melancthonian 
Church.  Perhaps,  feeling  the  unsafety  of  their  position, 
they  have  modified  it  somewhat  by  saying  that  it  is 
Melancthonian-Calvinistic. 

But  this  phrase,  Melancthonian-Calvinistic,  cannot 
be  a  description  of  the  Reformed,  for  it  means  a  contra- 
diction— a  union  of  opposites,  which  of  course  is  meaning- 
less. As  well  might  one  mix  oil  and  water,  light  and 
darkness,  as  mix  Melancthonianism  and  Calvinism. 
Does  this  phrase  refer  to  doctrine^  then  at  once  tliey  are  in 
most  direct  conflict.  For  Melancthonianism  was  syner- 
gistic, holding  that  man  co-operates  with  God  at  regenera- 


590  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

tion,  while  Calvin  was  most  decidedly  monergistic, 
namely  that  regeneration  is  God's  act,  and  not  man's  at 
all.  These  then  can't  be  put  together,  for  either  God 
does  it  alone,  or  he  does  not.  To  say  that  He  does  it 
alone,  as  Calvinism  says,  and  then  say  in  the  same 
breath  that  he  does  it  with  God,  as  Melancthonianism 
says,  makes  the  one  contradict  and  neutralize  the  other, 
so  that  Melancthonian-Calvinism  is  a  meaningless  term. 
Again,  on  the  Lord's  Supper  they  do  not  agree,  as 
Melancthon's  own  words  show.  Melancthon,  returning 
from  Worms,  declared  to  the  minister  Baier  :  "  We  agree 
with  the  French  on  all  points  except  the  Supper."  Cal- 
vin translated  Melancthon's  Loci  Communes,  although  in 
doing  so  he  taxes  him  with  deviations.* 

Does  the  phrase  Melancthonian-Calvinism  refer  to 
cultus,  then  again  it  means  a  union  of  opposites,  and  so 
cannot  be.  Calvin's  followers  cast  out  of  the  churches 
images,  pictures,  altars,  etc.,  and  he  remonstrated  with 
Melancthon  at  Hagenau  and  Worms  that  the  Lutherans 
allowed  too  many  relics  of  Papacy,  as  Latin  singing, 
images,  exorcism,  etc.  Over  against  this,  Melancthon 
aided  to  prepare  the  Leipsic  Interim,  which  sanctioned 
many  of  these  very  Romish  forms,  and  for  it  Calvin 
attacked  him.  Melancthon,  therefore,  was  of  all  the 
Lutherans  the  most  indiiferent  to  these  semi-Romish 
rites,  while  Calvin  was  of  all   the   Reformed  most  bitter 

*•  Schweitzer  Central  Dogmen,  Vol.  I.,  p.  388. 


REFORMED    NOT    MELANCTHONIAN.  591 

against  them.     If  this  is  true,  the  phrase  Melancthonian- 
Calvinism  is  meaningless,  as  it  involves  contradiction. 

If  then  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany  is  not 
Melancthonian-Calvinistic,  she  must  be  either  Melanc- 
thonian  or  Calvinistic.  The  view  that  she  has  been 
Melancthonian,  has  been  presented  by  Heppe  and  Schaif. 
Heppe*  distinguishes  between  the  Genevan  and  the  Ger- 
man Calvinism  on  four  points :  (1)  With  Calvin  and 
Beza  the  purpose  of  the  whole  predestination  is  the  glory 
of  God,  with  the  Germans  the  assurance  of  salvation  for 
the  believers ;  (2)  the  first  start  with  the  eternal  decree, 
the  latter  with  the  human  act ;  (3)  to  the  first  the  work 
of  Christ  is  only  the  execution  of  the  decrees  already 
established,  to  the  latter  it  is  the  basis  of  salvation ;  (4) 
according  to  the  first  all  divine  action  is  only  for  the  elect 
(particularism),  according  to  the  latter  for  all  (universal- 
ism). 

Perhaps  the  best  way  to  answer  Heppe,  is  to  quote 
him  against  himself.  In  his  Reformed  Dogmaticsf  he 
says  of  Reformed  Dogmatics :  ^^  Its  highest  end  is  the 
glory  of  God,  its  subordinate  end  the  salvation  of  the 
electa  This  is  against  his,  (i)  because  it  sides  with  what 
he  says  are  Calvin's  views,  and  against  (4)  because  it  speaks 
of  the  salvation  only  of  the  elect.  Again  he  says  on 
the  same  page,  ^^As  a  part  of  fallen   humanity  is  saved 

*  History  of  German  Protestantism,  Vol.  II.,  p.  43. 
t  Page  111. 


592  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

from  eternal  damnation,  the  redemption  and  the  entrance 
of  this  part  into  eternal  blessedness  is  based  upon  the  eter- 
nal decree,  by  virtue  of  which  the  Son  promised  to  make 
satisfaction  for  a  part  of  humanity,  which  promise  the 
Father  accepted  by  decreeing  to  give  a  certain  part  of  the 
human  race  to  the  Son,  and  to  awaken  this  part  through 
the  Holy  Ghost  to  a  living  participation  of  the  righteous- 
ness and  holy  life  of  Christ."  This  is  against  his  (2), 
because  it  makes  the  eternal  decree  of  God  the  basis ;  is 
against  his  (3),  because  it  makes  the  satisfaction  of  Christ 
the  execution  of  the  decree  ;  and  against  (4),  because  it 
says  Christ  made  satisfaction  for  only  a  part  of  the  human 
race.  If  Heppe  is  right  in  his  history,  he  is  not  Reformed 
in  theology,  for  he  agrees  with  Calvin  on  these  points. 

Rev.  Dr.  Schaff  *  gives  the  following  differences  :  ''  (1) 
The  Calvinist  makes  the  abstract  decree  the  source  of 
the  incarnation,  and  the  Church  simply  a  means  to  salva- 
tion, while  the  latter  derives  it  from  the  person  of  Christ, 
who  in  His  divine  nature  is  older  than  the  decrees ;  (2) 
Calvinism  teaches  a  double  eternal  decree — a  reprobation, 
as  w^ell  as  an  election — and  thus  necessarily  limits  the 
atonement  to  a  part  of  the  human  race.  While  the  Ger- 
man Reformed  Church  passed  over  the  decrees  in  silence 
and  extends  the  divine  offer  to  the  whole  world.  In  this 
respect  all  the  Reformed  evangelical  divines  of  the  age 
(Schweitzer  excepted)  are  fully  agreed.     Lange,  Heppe, 

*  German  Universities,  page  394. 


REFORMED    NOT    MELANCTHONIAN.  593 

Hundeshagen,  Schenkel,  Hagenbach,  Herzog,  Sudhoff  and 
F.  W.  Krummacher,  as  well  as  Ebrard,  reject  the  supra- 
lapsarian  and  in  some  sense  the  infralapsarian  scheme  of 
predestination."  In  reply  to  his  first  argument,  that 
divine  salvation  is  from  the  person  of  Christ,  which  is 
older  than  the  decrees,  we  reply  that  the  person  of  Christ 
was  not  older  than  His  incarnation.  Although  the  divine 
nature  was  older  than  the  incarnation,  yet  the  human  per- 
son was  no  older  than  the  incarnation.  Dr.  SchafP,  who 
was  usually  careful,  has  confused  strangely  the  person 
(divine-human)  of  Christ  with  the  second  person  of  the 
trinity.  The  person  of  Christ  was  not  older  than  the 
incarnation.  And  if  He  was  not  the  result  of  a  decree, 
then  He  must  have  come  by  chance.  But  no  one  will 
grant  this.  So  the  incarnation  must  have  come  from  some 
purpose  or  decree  of  God  away  back  in  eternity,  and  so 
the  person  of  Christ  depended  on  the  decree.  If  Dr. 
Schaff  was  building  his  theology  on  that,  he  was  building 
it  on  falsity.  As  to  his  second  argument  we  are  very 
much  surprised  to  find  him  quoting,  to  prove  this  viev/, 
SudhofP  as  not  infralapsarian,  when  any  one  who  has  read 
his  writings,  knows  he  is ;  and  F.  W.  Krummacher,  who 
was  attacked  by  Lange  for  his  High  Calvinism,  and 
Schenkel,  who  was  a  Rationalist ;  while  Lange  and  Ha- 
genbach  represent  the  mediating  theology,  and  not  the 
Reformed,  according  to  the  best  historians  of  theology, 
as  Dorner  and  Kahnis,  etc. 


594  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

But  what  says  history?  The  way  to  settle  this  matter 
is  by  the  testimony  of  Reformed  Church  history. 

We  will  examine  this  subject  more  at  lengthy  looking 
at  it  (1)  historically,  (2)  as  to  the  creeds,  (3)  as  to  their 
authors,  (4)  how  did  the  Reformed  interpret  these  creeds  ? 
and  (5)  what  did  the  universities  say  ? 

From  these  we  will  be  able  to  see  what  the  theological 
position  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany  was. 


CHAPTER    II.— SECTION    II. 
THE  TESTIMONY  OF  HISTORY. 

If  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany  is   Melanctho- 
nian,  then  the  following  historical  facts  must  be  explained, 
because  they  show  that  the  Melancthonians  rejected  the* 
Heidelberg  Catechism  : 

(a)  If  the  Reformed  Church  was  Melancthonian,  why 
did  the  university  of  Wittenberg  take  action  against  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism  in  1572?*  That  university  was 
full  of  Melancthonians  then.  Its  rector  was  Peucer,  Me- 
lancthon's  son-in-law.  Its  professors  were  some  years 
after  driven  away,  just  because  they  were  Melancthonians. 
If  any  one  knew  what  Melancthonianism  was,  they  did. 
And  yet  those  who  occupied  the  centre  of  Melancthonian- 
ism reject  the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  How  could  they  do 
this,  if  it  were  Melancthonian  ? 

(6)  If  it  were  Melancthonian,  why  did  the  Melanctho- 
nians of  Hesse  come  out  so  decidedly  against  the  Heidel- 
berg Catechism  ?  For  if  any  land  was  Melancthonian,  it 
was  Hesse  under  Landgrave  Phillip  and  his  son  Land- 
grave William.     And  yet  the  Hessian  theologians  at  the 

*  Reformed  Kirchenzeitung   of   Germany,    1869,    page  164.      Kluckhohn 
"How  Frederick  III.  of  the  Palatinate  became  Calvinist,"  pages  99-100. 


596  THE    REFORMED   CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

Synod  of  Marburg,  1563,  refused  the  catechism,  because 
they  could  not  agree  with  its  doctrine.*  The  opinion  of 
the  Hessian  theologians  sent  to  the  Diet  of  Augsburg, 
1566,  where  Frederick  was  to  be  tried  for  his  catechism, 
was  adverse  to  the  catechism.  Now  if  the  catechism  was 
Melancthonian,  why  all  this  opposition  from  Melanc- 
thonians  ? 

(c)  The  leading  Melancthonian  prince  of  Germany  was 
•Landgrave  Phillip  of  Hesse.     He  had  become   Protestant 

through  Melancthon's  influence.  And  yet  he  in  1564 
wrote  to  Duke  Christopher  of  Wurtemberg  against  the 
position  of  Elector  Frederick  III.  in  his  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism. Indeed,  he  went  so  far  as  to  go  to  Heidelberg, 
although  an  old  man,  so  as  to  warn  Frederick  against  this 
new  catechism  that  he  was  foisting  on  the  world.f  Now  if 
the  catechism  was  Melancthonian,  why  did  Melancthonian 
princes  and  theologians  come  out  thus  against  it  ?  We 
thus  see  that  the  Melancthonians  did  not  consider  it  Me- 
lancthonian, and  they  certainly  knew  what  Melanctho- 
nianism  was,  better  than  we  at  this  distant  date. 

(d)  If  the  catechism  was  Melancthonian,  why  did  the 
Palatinate  pass  through  such  a  revolution  of  cultus  as  she 
did,  when  the  Keformed  faith  was  introduced  in  1563? 
Why  were  altars,  crucifixes  and  pictures  put  out  of  the 
churches  ?  Why  wafers  put  away  and  bread  introduced  ? 

*  Klemme,  Entstehung  des  Heidelberg  Katechismus,  page  22. 
I  Kluckhohn,  Frederick  der  Fromme,  page  147. 


REFORMED  NOT  MELANCTHONIAN.        597 

Why  organs  closed  and  fonts  put  away  ?  The  Palatinate 
had  been  Melancthonian  under  the  previous  Elector ;  why 
all  this  change,  if  the  new  catechism  was  Melancthonian  ? 
The  only  explanation  is,  that  the  catechism  was  not  Me- 
lancthonian. 

(e)  If  the  catechism  was  Melancthonian,  why  was  there 
such  a  revolution  in  Hesse,  also  a  Melancthonian  land, 
when  the  Reformed  faith  was  introduced  ?  Pictures  were 
put  out  of  the  churches,  wafers  gave  place  to  bread,  and 
matters  came  to  a  riot  at  Marburg  in  1605  against  the 
Reformed.  If  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  was  Melanc- 
thonian, as  the  people  had  been  before,  why  all  this  strife 
and  change  ?  The  only  answer  is,  that  it  must  have  been 
different  from  previous  Melancthonianism. 

(/)  Why  did  the  same  thing  occur  in  Anhalt,  Lippe, 
Nassau,  all  of  them  originally  Melancthonian  lands  ?  And 
yet  when  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  was  introduced,  there 
was  a  complete  change  in  cultus.  Altars  were  put  away  ; 
so  were  pictures,  wafers,  etc.  Now  if  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism  and  the  Reformed  Church  were  Melancthonian, 
what  cause  can  be  given  for  such  changes  ?  The  fact  that 
the  Reformed  Church  required  such  changes  showed  that 
she  was  something  other  than  the  previous  Melanctho- 
nianism, namely,  that  she  was  Calvinistic. 

(g)  Why  did  the  Synod  of  Dort  adopt  the  catechism  ? 
That  Synod  was  especially  sensitive  to  anything  that 
savored  in  the  least  of  Arminianism,  and   would   have 


598  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

noticed  the  first  spec  of  the  synergism  of  Melancthon,  if 
it  had  been  in  the  catechism,  for  that  subject  was  a  burn- 
ing question  then.  And  yet,  on  the  contrary,  it  adopted 
the  catechism  as  "  an  exact  compendium  of  orthodox 
Christian  doctrine.'' 

These  are  some  of  the  historical  facts  that  bear  against 
the  idea  that  the  Reformed  Church  and  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism  are  Melancthonian.  They  must  be  explained 
before  it  can  be  said  that  the  Reformed  Church  is  Me- 
lancthonian. It  does  not  seem  to  us  that  they  can  be 
explained  away.  They  stand  as  sign-boards  that  the 
Reformed  Church  was  something  other  than  Melanctho- 
nian, namely  Calvinistic. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  III. 
THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  CREEDS. 

The  main  creed  was  the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  We 
will  notice  first  where  the  catechism  is  against  Melanc- 
thon,  and  then  where  it  agrees  with  Calvin. 

(a)  Against  Melancthon's  synergism — his  most  char- 
acteristic doctrine  (the  co-operation  of  man  with  God  at 
regeneration  and  conversion) — stand  answer  5  ('^I  am 
prone  by  nature  to  liate  God  and  my  neighbor'^),  and 
answer  8  (''  Indeed  we  are,  except  ive  are  regenerated  by 
the  Spirit  of  God").  And  answer  13  shows  that  this  ina- 
bility increases  {"  we  daily  increase  our  debt'O-  The  cate- 
chism, therefore,  repudiates  Melancthon's  most  prominent 
doctrine  and  accepts  its  opposite.  Evidently  it  is  not 
Melancthonian  here. 

{b)  The  eightieth  answer  repudiates  the  Romish  mass 
and  calls  it  "  an  accursed  idolatry."  This  is  against  Me- 
lancthon's position  in  the  Leipsic  Interim,  which  allowed 
the  use  of  mass.  But  the  catechism  is  most  severe  here 
against  what  he  allowed.  It  will  listen  to  no  comprom- 
ises with  Rome,  as  he  did.  » 

(c)  On  the  use  of  pictures  in  churches,  answers  96 — 
98  are  ao^ainst  Melancthon.     For  he  considered  them   as 


600  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

unimportant  things.  But  the  catechism  evidently  does  not 
consider  them  unimportant,  but  most  emphatically  forbids 
them. 

(d)  It  disagrees  (Answer  81)  with  him  when  it  speaks 
on  the  doctrine  that  the  impenitent  eat  Christ's  body  and 
blood  at  the  Supper ;  for  it  says  only  those  who  receive  it 
by  faith,  receive  benefit. 

These  are  some  of  the  disagreements  of  the  catechism 
with  Melancthon.  They  are  fundamental  disagreements. 
They  are  direct  opposites  of  Melancthon's  positions,  and 
cannot  be  made  to  square  with  them. 

Again,  while  the  catechism  is  not  Melancthonian,  it  is 
on  the  other  hand  Calvinistic.  This  is  proved  by  the  fol- 
lowing reasons  : 

(a)  It  teaches  predestination.  In  answer  26  it  speaks 
of  "  the  eternal  counsel  of  God.''  What  does  this  mean 
but  God's  decree  ?  In  answer  31  it  speaks  of  "  the  secret 
will  of  God  concerning  our  redemption."  Also  in  ques- 
tion 52  it  speaks  of  all  "  the  chosen  ones."  (The  word  in 
the  original  German  is  Ausericcehlten.  The  German  word 
for  election  is  Erwsehlung,  from  which  Auserwsehlen  is 
derived.  The  word  used  in  our  catechism  is  therefore 
stronger  than  election — it  literally  means  elected  out  of, 
or  from  among.  If  this  does  not  mean  election,  what 
does  it  mean  ?  It  ^eans  not  merely  electing,  but  electing 
out  of.)  It  is  true,  the  catechism  does  not  mention  repro- 
bation, or  the   negative   side  of  election,  nor  is  it  to  be 


HEIDELBERG   CATECHISM    CALVINISTIC.  601 

expected  that  such  a  popular  theological  book  would  take 
up  such  an  abstruse  doctrine.  But  if  the  silence  of  the 
catechism  on  reprobation  is  a  sign  that  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism  is  not  Calvinistic,  then  Calvin's  own  catechism  is 
not  Calvinistic,  for  it  does  not  mention  reprobation  either. 
(6)  On  another  of  the  peculiar  points  of  Calvinism, 
the  perseverance  of  the  saints,  the  catechism  is  very  pro- 
nounced. Answer  1  says,  ''And  so  preserves  me  that  all 
things  must  work  together  for  my  salvation.''  Answer 
51  says,  ''He  defends  and  preserves  us  against  all  ene- 
mies." Answer  31  says,  "  Defends  and  preserves  us 
in  the  redemption  obtained  for  us.  The  Holy  Ghost 
shall  abide  with  me  forever.'^  And  Answer  54  says  :  I 
"  am  and /orever  remain  a  living  member  of  the  Church." 

(c)  On  the  doctrine  of  the  descent  into  hell,  the  44th 
Answer  clearly  commits  the  catechism  to  Calvin.  For  it 
explains  that  doctrine  in  the  figurative  sense,  which  is 
peculiar  to  Calvin. 

(d)  On  the  power  of  the  keys  (Answer  85)  it  is  clearly 
Calvinistic.  Melancthonianism  knew  nothing  of  Church 
discipline.  It  was  Calvin  and  his  followers,  who  were 
strong  on  Church  discipline.  This  catechism,  in  empha- 
sizing this  doctrine,  shows  itself  Calvinistic. 

(e)  On  the  ten  commandments  the  catechism  follows 
Calvin,  and  not  Luther  and  Melancthon.  For  it  does 
not  combine  the  first  and  second  commandments,  as 
Melancthon  and  the  Lutherans  do,  but  it  divides  them,  as 

39 


602  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Calvin  did.  Again  it  does  not  put  three  commandments 
in  one  table,  as  Luther  did,  and  seven  in  the  other.  But, 
like  Calvin  and  Juda,  it  puts  four  in  the  first  table  and 
six  in  the  second. 

(/)  On  the  Lord's  Prayer  it  takes  its  position  with 
Calvin.  The  Lutherans  count  seven  petitions  in  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  while  it,  following  Calvin,  counts  six. 

{g)  In  its  division  of  the  catechism  into  fifty-two 
Sundays  it  follow^s  Calvin,  who  had  divided  his  catechism 
thus.  The  Lutherans  did  not  divide  their  catechism  by 
Sundays. 

(Ji)  On  the  Lord's  Supper  it  is  Calvinistic.  It  does 
not  define  Christ's  body  to  be  in,  wdth  and  under  the 
elements  (Melancthonian),  but  they  are  outward  signs  and 
seals  of  inward  spiritual  communion  with  Christ.  Answer 
76  says,  '^  to  become  more  and  more  united  to  His  sacred 
body  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  dwells  both  in  Christ  and 
in  us,  so  that  we,  though  Christ  is  in  heaven,  and  we  on 
earth,"  etc.  It  is  the  Holy  Ghost  who  links  us  to  Christ's 
humanity  in  heaven.  The  communion  is  spiritual,  not 
bodily  nor  fleshly,  which  would  be  Capernaitic. 

For  all  these  reasons  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  is 
evidently  Calvinistic. 

Take  another  creed,  the  Hessian  creed.  It,  too,  is 
Calvinistic,  for  it  expressly  iusists  on  predestination. 
And  to  make  it  more  severe  on  the  Lutherans,  it  quotes 
in  Article  V.  a  part  of  Luther's  own  commentary  on 
Romans,  where  he  favors  predestination  : 


CEEEDS   ARE   CALVINISTIC.  603 

^^  In  the  same  way  concerning  the  high  mystery  ot 
eternal  election,  we  believe  and  teach  all  that  is  written 
concerning  it  in  the  Bible.  .  .  .  And  that  we  may  explain 
onrselves  more  explicitly  on  this,  we  say  that  our  confes- 
sion is  the  same  as  Luther  has  stated  in  the  Bible  and  in 
the  epistle  to  the  Romans,  which  thus  reads  :  ^  In  Rom. 
9  :  10,  1 1  Paul  teaches  concerning  the  eternal  providence 
of  God,  from  which,  as  its  origin,  is  derived  who  shall 
believe  and  who  shall  not  believe,  be  freed  of  his  sin  or 
be  not  freed,  so  that  our  salvation  might  altogether  be 
taken  out  of  our  hands,  and  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
God.  And  this  is  most  necessary,  for  we  are  so  weak  and 
uncertain,  that  if  it  should  depend  on  us,  indeed  no  man 
would  be  saved.  Satan  would  most  certainly  overcome 
them  all.  But  now,  since  God  is  certain  that  His  plans 
will  not  fail  Him,  nor  any  one  can  hinder  them,  we  would 
yet  hope  against  sin.'  Thus  Luther,  and  this  is  exactly 
our  confession  of  this  mystery  of  eternal  election,  and  no 
other." 

The  Sigismund  Confession  of  Brandenburg  (Confessio 

Marchica)  also  teaches  it : 

"  In  the  article  of  the  eternal  election  or  ordination  to 
eternal  life,  the  grace  of  his  Electoral  Highness  recog- 
nizes and  confesses  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  comforting 
articles,  on  which  not  only  all  the  others,  but  also  our 
salvation  is  pre-eminently  founded — that  namely  the  Al- 
mighty God,  out  of  pure  grace  and  mercy,  without  any 
respect  to  the  worthiness  of  man,  without  all  merit  and 
work,  before  the  foundation  of  the  world  was  laid,  has 
ordained  and  elected  for  eternal  life  all  those  who  con- 
stantly believe  on  Christ,  that  He  also  knows  and  recog- 
nizes His  own,  and  as  He  has  loved  them  from  eternity, 
also  gives  unto  them,  out  of  His  mere  grace,  true  faith 
and  strong  perseverance  till  the  end,  so  that  no  one  can 
pluck  them  out  of  the  hand  of  God,  and  no  one  separate 
them  from  His  love,  and  everything,  be  it  good  or  evil, 


604  THE   REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

must  work  together  to  His  purpose.  Thus  God  has  also, 
according  to  His  strict  justice,  passed  by  from  eternity  all 
those  who  do  not  believe  in  Christ,  and  has  prepared  for 
them  eternal  hellish  fire.  .  .  .  Hence  we  also  reject  the 
opinion  that  God,  on  account  of  foreseen  faith,  has  elected 
some,  which  would  be  Pelagian,''  etc. 

Thus   the   other   creeds,  as   well   as   the  Heidelberg, 

prove  the  Reformed  Church   Calvinistic,  and   not   Me- 

lancthonian.       The   creeds,    therefore,    of  the    Reformed 

Churches  of  Germany  make  her  Calvinistic. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  IV. 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  AUTHORS  OF  THE  CREEDS. 

Before  we  notice  the  theological  views  of  the  authors 
of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  we  will  notice  a  very 
important  argument,  namely,  the  materials  which  these 
authors  used  in  composing  the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  It 
is  remarkable  that  all  the  materials  used  were  Calvinistic. 
Nowhere  do  we  read  of  any  Melancthonian  creeds  being 
used.  The  materials  used  were  Leo  Juda's  and  Bullinger's, 
Lasco^s  and  Calvin^s  Catechisms,  all  of  them  Calvin- 
istic. Oleviauus  declares  that  whatever  good  there  is  in 
it  is  due  to  the  excellent  Swiss  scholars.*  More  than 
thirty  questions  (one-fourth  of  the  catechism)  show  a  direct 
quotation  from  Calvin's  Catechism. f  Lasco's  Catechisms 
were  extensively  used.  About  sixteen  answers  are  from 
his  London  Catechism.  His  Emden  Catechism  is  fol- 
lowed by  seventeen  questions.  The  Heidelberg  is  like 
the  Emden  in  arrangement,  only  different  from  it  as  it 
uses  the  law  twice,  as  a  mirror  in  Part  I.  and  as  a  rule  in 
Part  III.,  whereas  the  Emden  has  it  only  once,  at  the 
beginning.     Ursinus'    Calvinistic   position   is   proved   by 

*  SudhoflF,  Olevianus  and  Ursinus,  page  483. 

I  Achelis'  Practical  Theology,  page  233,  and  Herzog  Encyclopiedia,   Vol. 
VII.,  page  611. 


606  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF    GERMANY. 

his  Notes  on  the  Heidelberg  Catechism.  He  says,*  "  That 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  predestination  or  election  and 
reprobation  in  God,  is  proven  by  these  declarations  of 
Scripture/'  etc.  Then  for  ten  pages  he  proves  and  dis- 
cusses this  doctrine.  There  is  another  very  significant 
fact.  Ursinus,  before  publishing  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism, published  two  catechisms  of  his  own,  which  were 
the  basis  of  the  Heidelberg.  It  is  very  significant  that 
he  is  stronger  on  predestination  in  them  than  he  is  in 
the  Heidelberg.  In  his  larger  catechism.  Questions  24,  25, 
26,  27  and  18  have  the  Emden  Catechism  of  Lasco  for 
their  basis,  but  there  is  this  difference,  that  Ursinus  is 
more  pronounced  on  predestination  than  Lasco,  for  he  asks 
the  question,  ^'  Whence  dost  thou  derive  the  hope  of  eter- 
nal life  ?"  and  answers  it  by  saying,  "  From  the  covenant  of 
grace,  which  God  made  anew  with  the  believers  in  Christ.'' 
This  limited  atonement  (for  believers)  differs  from  Lasco, 
who  holds  universal  atonement.  Ursinus  also  asks  the  ques- 
tion, "  Is  this  grace  offered  to  all  men  ?"  and  answers,  "  By 
no  means,  but  only  to  those  whom  God  has  eternally  elected 
to  eternal  life."  Calvin  himself  could  not  be  more 
emphatic  than  Ursinus  in  his  letter  to  Morian,t  a  Luth- 
eran at  Breslau.  Again,  his  Calvinistic  position  is  shown 
in  his  ^'  Christian  Admonition  Concerning  the  Book  of 
Concord."     In  the  third  part  of  this  book  he  refutes  false 

■•■  AVilliard's  translation  of  Ursinus  on  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  page  293. 
t  Sudhoff,  Olevianus  and  Ursinus,  pages  614-633. 


AUTHORS   ARE   CALVINISTIC.  607 

accusations  brought  against  the  doctrines  of  the  Palatinate 
Church.  As  the  third  doctrine  he  takes  up  predestina- 
tion.* He  says  here  ^^that  the  free  will  of  God  is  the 
effective  cause  of  reprobation.  But  since  we  are  children 
of  wrath,  we  would  all  be  lost,  if  sin  were  the  cause  of 
reprobation.  This  cause  is,  therefore,  not  in  man,  but 
it  is  that  will  in  God  which  freely  separates  out  of  the 
mass  of  corruption  those  that  are  to  be  saved  from  those 
that  are  not  to  be  saved."  These  extracts,  together  with 
his  commentary  on  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  amply 
prove  that  he  was  predestinariau. 

Olevianus  also  was  a  predestinariau,  for  he  was  a  pupil 
of  Calvin.     He  says  : 

^'  I  believe  in  a  Holy  Catholic  Church,  because  God  has 
before  freely  elected  them  according  to  an  unchangeable 
decree  and  given  them  to  his  Son  Jesus  Christ.  John  17  : 
9.  After  he  has  granted  thus  the  most  holy  faith  also  to 
me,  I  believe  that  he  also  has  graciously  elected  me,  that 
I  am  given  to  His  Son,  and,  therefore,  can  not  be  lost. 
For  through  the  Gospel  He  executes  His  immutable  decrees 
of  His  election  by  giving  me  the  Holy  Ghost  through  the 
Gospel  for  the  service  of  the  Word  as  a  means  which  pro- 
duces faith  where  and  in  whom  He  will.  The  fountain  of 
our  salvation  is  the  eternal,  unchangeable  decrees  of  God, 
namely,  that  he  accepts  those  to  whom  he  has  decreed  to 
give  faith  as  His  children  in  His  only  begotten  Son,  but 
that  he  punishes  others  by  His  just  judgment,  to  idiom  He 
has  not  decreed  to  grant  faith.  The  first  benefit  of  our 
faith  is  that  our  faith  has  a  foundation  which  is  firmer 
than  the  whole  universe,  namely,  the  unchangeable  decree 
of  God,  without  any  conditions  or  works  on  o  ur  side. 


See  Sudhoflf,  Olevianus  and  Ursinus,  pages  4-il-4't7. 


608  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Again,  Frederick  III.  was  a  (Jalvinist.  This  is  abund- 
antly proved  by  Kluckhohn  in  his  work,  "  How  Elector 
Frederick  Became  a  Calvinist."  He  even  shows  the  time 
when  Frederick  went  over  to  the  Calvinists,  when  he  pub- 
lished the  work  of  Erastus,  "  Griindlicher  Bericht/'  in 
1562.* 

Thus  the  authors  of  the  catechism  were  all  Calvinistic. 
If  they  were  Calvinistic,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  the  creed 
would  be  so  too.  A  writer  does  not  write  other  than  he 
believes.  If  Olevianus  and  Ursinus  had  written  a  system 
other  than  they  believed,  they  would  not  be  worthy  of  our 
confidence  and  respect.  No,  as  they  were  Calvinistic,  it  is 
to  be  expected  that  their  creed  is  Calvinistic  too,  and  so  it 
is.  And  as  the  Reformed  Church  accepts  Calvinistic 
creeds,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  the  Church  is  Calvinistic 
too. 

*  Kluckhohn,  pages  130-131. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  V. 
THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  CONFERENCES. 

We  have  thus  seen  how  the  authors  of  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism  interpreted  these  creeds.  Let  us  see  how  the 
Church  itself,  in  the  after  ages,  interpreted  them.  Did 
they  keep  up  to  the  Calvinistic  position  of  the  authors  ? 
It  has  been  said  that  the  authors  of  the  creeds  were  Cal- 
vinistic, but  not  their  Church.  We  have  two  opportuni- 
ties given  us  in  the  history  of  the  Church,  to  show  what 
the  Reformed  believed.  These  were  the  conferences  with 
the  Lutherans,  and  these  are  very  significant.  Here,  if 
anywhere,  would  appear  their  doctrinal  position.  In 
them  they  speak  officially  for  the  Church,  and  in  a  measure 
commit  the  Church  to  the  doctrines  enunciated  there. 
Did  they  reveal  that  the  Reformed  were  Melancthonian 
or  Calvinistic  ?  Now  the  remarkable  fact  is  that  in  both 
these  conferences  they  differ  from  the  Lutherans  in  the 
doctrine  of  election.  They  thus  commit  the  Reformed 
Church  to  Calvinism. 

The  first  of  these  was  held  at  Leipsic,  1631.  In  this 
conference  some  of  the  Reformed  representatives,  as  Ber- 
gius,  were   supposed   to  be  low   predestinarians  (of  the 


610  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Lasco  or  universal  atonement  school).  And  yet  here 
they  differed  from  the  Lutherans  on  predestination,  by 
declaring  their  belief  in  the  election  of  a  particular  num- 
ber. They  also  held  that  God  did  not  elect  them  because 
of  foreseen  faith,  as  the  Lutherans  held,  but  out  of  His 
own  free  grace,  and  that  God  reprobated  the  lost  because 
of  their  sins.* 

The  second  conference  between  the  Reformed  and 
Lutherans  was  held  at  Cassel  in  1661.  The  Reformed 
representatives  there  were  Swiss  (where  Calvinism  was,  if 
anything,  higher  than  in  Germany),  but  had  been  called  to 
Marburg  as  professors  after  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 
They  had  to  meet  here  true  Melancthonians  in  the  pro- 
fessors of  Rinteln.  Do  they  agree  with  them  ?  No ;  on 
the  contrary  they  disagree  Avith  them,  for  they  held  to 
particular  election,  and  denied  that  man  had  any  ability 
to  obey  or  aid  the  Gospel  (as  Melancthon  said),  and  also 
denied  that  God  (5ast  any  away,  because  He  saw  their 
unbelief.  They  thus  emphasize  their  (Calvinism  over 
against  the  Melancthonianism.f  Heppe  says  :  '^  This  con- 
ference revealed  that  the  German  peculiarity  of  the*  Hes- 
sian theologians  was  absorbed  in  predestinarian  Oalvin- 
ism.'^t 

*  Hering's  History  of  Union  Efforts,  Vol.  I.,  p.  342 ;  Herzog  Encyclopae- 
dia, Vol.  VIII.  p.  547. 

t  Muncher's  History  of  the  Hessian  Reformed  Churcb,  page  121. 
%  Herzog  Encyclopaedia,  Vol.  III.,  p.  155. 


THE   CONFERENCES   CALVINISTIC.  611 

The  theological  position  of  the  Reformed  at  these  confer- 
ences has  a  very  important  significance.  It  reveals  that  on 
every  occasion  when  they  are  placed,  as  a  Church,  before 
the  world,  they  commit  that  Church  to  Calvinism.  We 
can  not  see  how  the  idea  that  Calvinism  is  the  historic 
faith  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany,  can  be 
avoided  after  all  these  arguments. 


CHAPTER  II.— SECTION  VI. 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  UNIVERSITIES. 

Another  sign  of  the  position  of  the  Reformed  Church 
comes  from  the  universities.  Where  do  the  theologians 
of  the  Reformed  Church  stand  ?  It  is  somewhat  signifi- 
cant that  the  very  first  controversy  about  predestination 
broke  out  in  Germany,  when  Zanchius,  1561,  defended 
himself  against  Marbach,  and,  strange  to  say,  the  Mar- 
burg university  supported  him.  Again  the  various  dele- 
gates from  Germany  to  the  Synod  of  Dort  all  signed  the 
articles  of  Dort.  Evidently  they  agreed  with  those  Cal- 
vinistic  articles,  or  they  never  would  have  signed  them, 
and  they  were  the  leaders  of  their  Church  in  that  day. 
During  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  it  has  been  said,  the  Re- 
formed Church  inclined  to  Union.  And  yet  even  here 
we  find  that  her  leading  theologians,  as  Crocius  of  Mar- 
burg, Wendelin  of  Zerbst,  Alting  of  Heidelberg,  were 
Calvinists.  After  the  Thirty  Years'  War  the  federal 
theology  of  Coceius  spread  in  Germany,  until  it  became 
the  prevailing  type.  Ebrard  says :  "  Federalism  so 
worked  its  way,  that  the  ground  idea  of  federalism  was  in 
the  ascendent  in  the  eighteenth  century.''  Let  us  go  the 
rounds  of  the  Reformed  univerities,  and  see  where  they 


THE    UNIVEKSITIES.  •  613 

stood  on  this  question.  The  Reformed  had  six  main  uni- 
versities— Marburg,  Duisburg,  Frankford  on  the  Oder, 
Heidelberg,  Herborn  and  Lingen,  the  Bremen  and  Berg- 
Steinfurt  gymnasia  having  been  given  up.  How  did  these 
universities,  which  trained  and  supplied  the  Church  witlx 
ministers,  stand  on  the  question  of  Calvinism  ?  Before 
entering  upon  the  description  of  the  universities,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  notice  that  the  Reformed  Church  of  Ger- 
many, while  it  was  Calvinistic,  yet  had  various  schools  of 
Calvinism.*  These  schools  were  the  Supralapsarian, 
Infralapsarian,  Cocceian  and  Sublapsarian.  All  of  these 
were  held,  although  the  third  was  the  most  prominent. 
And  where  Infralapsarianism  and  Cocceianism  were  held, 
the  doctrine  of  predestination  was  taught  not  so  much  as 
a  scholastic  doctrine,  as  a  practical  one,  so  as  to  affect  the 
life  of  the  believer.  Grace  was  emphasized,  rather  than 
God's  sovereignty.  The  doctrine  became  a  great  source 
of  comfort,  in  harmony  with  the  prominent  theme  of  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism — comfort.  The  Saumur  school,  too, 
was  not  Melancthonian,  because  it  held  to  universal 
atonement,  for  this  was  not  a  doctrine  peculiar  to  Me- 
lancthon.  Melancthon  emphasized  Synergism,  while 
the  Sublapsarians  emphasized  universality  of  the  atone- 
ment. The  doctrine  w^as  Lasco's,  rather  than  Zwingli's, 
who  held  it  at  the  same  time  Melancthon  did. 

There  was  a  difference  between  the  Synergism  of  Me- 


*  These  have  been  described  on  page  319. 


614  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

lancthon  and  the  universal  atonement  of  Lasco.  The 
former  emphasized  the  human  side  of  redemption  (man's 
act  at  conversion),  the  latter  emphasized  the  divine  side  in 
redemption,  (God's  act  in  providing  an  atonement  suffi- 
cient for  all,  regardless  of  Synergism  or  the  co-operation 
of  man).  Even  though  no  man  co-operated  in  conversion, 
yet  God's  provision  was  sufficient  for  all  men.  The  uni- 
versality of  the  atonement  then  does  not  depend  at  all  on 
man's  act,  as  Synergism  does.  Universal  atonement  is 
Calvinistic,  because  it  looked  at  redemption  from  the 
divine  side,  the  universality  depending  not  on  man's  pur- 
pose, but  on  God's.  It  did  not  depend  on  man's  ability 
to  grasp  and  aid  it,  as  held  by  the  Synergists,  but  entirely 
on  God's  willingness  to  provide  a  redemption.  This  uni- 
versal atonement  view  is  therefore  far  from  Synergism.* 

Marburg. 

This  was  the  most  important  Reformed  university  after 
Heidelbers:  had  gone  down  under  the  Romanist  rulers. 
After  the  Synod  of  Dort  the  Reformed  Church  of  Hesse 
became  more  highly  Calvinistic.  Stein,  who  was  one  of 
its  delegates  to  Dort,  was  so  highly  Calvinistic  that  he 
bitterly  opposed  the  Remonstrants  there.     After  him  Pro- 

*  The  writer  of  this  book,  as  a  pupil  of  Professor  Henry  B.  Smith,  of  Union 
Seminary,  is  an  adherent  of  Subhipsarian  Calvinism.  If  he  had  any  prefer- 
ence, he  would  have  preferred  to  find  the  German  Reformed  Church  predomi- 
nantly holding  this  view.  But  he  must  confess  that  he  has  been  surprised  to 
find  that  the  German  Reformed  Church  was  higher  Calvinistic,  although  it 
included  the  Saumur  school  within  itself. 


THE   UNIVERSITIES    CALVIXISTIC.  615 

fessor  Eglin,  a  Swiss,  was  Calvinistic.  ISTeuberger^s  popu- 
lar dogmatics,  "  The  Mirror  of  Faith/'  1630,  taught  pre- 
destination.* The  Cassel  conference  revealed  the  Hessian 
Church  Calvinistic.f  Yihiiar  mentions  Crocius,  Curtius, 
Stannarius,  Hein,  Duysing,  Pauli,  Andrea,  Tileman, 
Gautier,  L.  C.  Mieg,  J.  H.  Hottinger,  all  as  predestinarian. 
The  great  Professor  J.  C.  Kirchmeier  was  a  Cocceian.J 
Wittenbach  was  a  Cocceian.§  Endeman  (1679-89)  fol- 
lowed Wittenbach,  and  his  dogmatics  reveal  that  he  was 
a  sublapsarian  Calvinist.  Arnoldi  (1789-1830)  followed 
him,  used  his  dogmatics  as  a  text  book,  and  so  must  have 
been  Calvinistic.  These  continued  Calvinism  in  the  uni- 
versity down  to  the  Union  (1822),  except  when  it  was 
influenced  somewhat  by  Rationalism. 

Herborn. 

This  university  was  Calvinistic.  It  was  so,  because  it 
was  closely  allied  politically  with  Holland,  where  Cal- 
vinism and  orthodoxy  continued  long  after  Rationalism 
had  affected  Germany.  Of  the  professors  at  Herborn, 
Olevianus  was  a  predestinarian,  so  was  his  successor,  Pis- 
cator.  Alsted,  its  delegate  to  the  Synod  of  Dort,  was  also 
a  predestinarian,  and   signed   the  canons  of  Dort.     The 

*  Heppe  Beider  Ilessen,  page  139,  and  Heppe  in  Allgemeine  Deutsche  Bib- 
liographie,  Vol.  IV.,  page  600. 

"j"  Herzog  Encyclopsedia,  Vol.  III.,  page  155. 
j  Heppe  Beider  Ilessen,  page  29-1. 
§  Heppe  Beider  Hessen,  page  293. 


616  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

university  became  Cocceian  under  Melchior,"^  and  from 
that  day  it  belonged  to  the  Federal  school.  Lampe's 
theology  was  used  for  a  long  while,  and  was  a  text  book. 
Professors  Arnoldi  and  Schramm  were  Cocceians,  as  Cuno 
shows.  Thus  the  general  position  of  the  university  up  to 
the  time  of  the  Union  was  Calvinistic. 

Duisburg. 

This  university  was  Calvinistic,  for  it  was  located  in 
an  intensely  Calvinistic  district.  Situated  near  Holland, 
it  was  largely  affected  by  the  neighboring  Dutch  univer- 
sities, which  were  Calvinistic.  Its  first  rector,  Clauberg, 
was  a  Federalist.  "  In  the  second  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century  most  of  the  ministers  of  the  Northern  Rhine  were 
Cocceian,  and  this  school  became  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury the  orthodox  one.^'f  Heppe  says  :  J  '^  The  ruling 
theology  at  Duisburg  was  the  Cocceian.  This  Calvinistic 
position  was  held  by  the  university  down  to  the  end  of  the 
last  century,  when  most  of  its  professors  became  Rational- 
istic and  the  university  was  closed. 

Frankford  on  tlie  Oder. 

Here,  more  than  in  any  other  university  in  Germany, 
one  might  expect  to  find  Melancthonians,  for  it  was  the 
only  university  in  Eastern  Germany  surrounded  by  Luth- 

-••  Maurer  History  of  Herborn  High  School,  page  15. 

t  Goebel  History  of  the  Rhenish  Westphalian  Church,  Vol.  II.,  page  113. 

X  History  of  Evangelical  Church  of  Cleve  and  Mark,  page  187. 


FEANKFORD    ON    THE   ODER.  617 

erans  on  every  side,  and  besides,  the  house  of  Branden- 
burg had  a  great  inclination  toward  union  with  the  Luthr 
erans.  Whatever  may  be  said  of  Pelargus,  the  first  pro- 
fessor, Bergius,  his  associate  and  successor,  was  a  sublap- 
sarian  Calvinist.  The  next  professor,  Bergius,  became  a 
higher  Calvinist  after  he  had  visited  Holland.  Among 
the  court  preachers  of  the  Elector,  many  of  whom  were 
professors,  Calvinism  appeared,  as  Cochins,  and  Bierman 
who  was  professor  1676-1717.  The  coming  of  the 
French  Reformed  into  Brandenburg  greatly  affected  the 
Reformed  Church.  "  In  the  East  of  Prussia  the  French 
and  Palatinate  refugee  congregations  so  overbalanced  the 
few  Reformed  court  churches  there,  which  perhaps  might 
falsely  have  been  called  Melancthonian,  that  the  Reformed 
bore  a  prevailingly  Calvinistic  character.  What  power  it 
had  on  the  Prussian  court  itself,  is  shown  by  the 
inclination  of  Frederick  the  Great  to  predestination. ''* 
Thus  Beausobre  in  1693  defends  the  doctrines  of  the 
Synod  of  Dort,  and  Naude  was  a  supralapsarian  and 
attacked  Osterwald's  Catechism.  The  father  of  Frederick 
the  Great,  although  opposed  to  supralapsarian  Calvinism, 
which  turned  man  into  a  machine,  was  not  opposed  to  the 
sublapsarian  Calvinism  of  the  school  of  Saumur.  Sack, 
the  court  preacher  of  Frederick  the  Great,  was  a  Coc- 
ceian.f      Thus   Calvinism    was   a   prominent    factor   in 

*  Kirch enzeitung  of  Detmold,  1868,  page  188. 
I  Life  of  Sack,  by  his  son,  jiage  75. 

40 


618  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Frankford  and  in  the  Prussian  Reformed  Cturch.  The 
university,  however,  was  a  small  one. 
Heidelberg. 
The  founders  of  the  Protestant  university  there  were 
Calvinists.  Ursinus,  Olevianus,  Zanchius,  Tossanus, 
Junius,  Parens  were  all  strict  Calvinists.  They  were  fol- 
lowed by  Scultetus  and  Alting,  both  high  Calvinists. 
When  the  university  was  reopened  after  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  Spanheim  was  an  infralapsarian,  Hottinger 
inclined  to  the  Saumur  school,  and  Fabricius  was  a  Coc- 
ceian.  It  bravely  battled  for  the  Heidelberg  Catechism 
and  its  doctrines.  However  its  theology  does  not  appear 
very  prominent,  for  its  struggle  was  not  for  Calvinism, 
but  for  existence.  Sometimes  its  faculty  went  down  to 
one,  as  Heddeus  in  1786.  In  the  last  century  it  was  more 
prominent  in  Church  history  than  in  dogmatics,  as  Wundt 
and  Buttinghausen  publish  their  historical  works. 

Bremen. 

This  university  continued  only  till  1750.  Pezel,  who 
organized  the  Bremen  Reformed  Church,  was  a  Calvinist, 
as  his  catechism  proves.  Martinius,  its  delegate  to  the 
Synod  of  Dort,  evidently  was  a  Calvinist,  for  he  signed 
the  canons,  although  he  believed  in  universal  atonement. 
And  Lewis  Crocius  became  a  more  decided  predestinarian 
later  in  life.*     Combach,  professor   1639-43,  was  a  Cal- 


Life  of  John  Crocius,  by  Klemme,  page  17,  note. 


CONCLUSION.  619 

vinist,   and  so  was   Flockeniiis.     But  Calvinism  gained 
full  control  in  the  days  of  Lampe  and  DeHase. 

Lingen. 

This  university  was  a  small  one.  It  was  the  only 
university  in  Hanover,  where  there  were  only  a  few  Re- 
formed, although  when  the  university  of  Bremen  was 
given  up,  its  attendance  somewhat  increased.  As  it  was 
for  a  long  time  under  the  control  of  the  Dutch,  its  profes- 
sors sympathized  with  the  Dutch  Calvinistic  position,  and 
they  were  therefore  predestinarian  and  Cocceian. 

Berg-Steinfurt. 

This  gymnasium  was  closed  so  early  that  it  need  hardly 
be  mentioned.  After  Vorstius,  who  was  charged  with 
Socinianism,  its  last  professor,  Heidegger,  was  a  Calvinist, 
for  he  afterwards  became  one  of  the  authors  of"  the  Hel- 
vetic Consensus  of  Switzerland. 

From  this  brief  review  of  the  theologians  and  profes- 
sors of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany,  it  is  evident 
that  Calvinism  was  the  prevailing  type.  To  this  Goebel 
agrees,  when  he  says  that  the  prevailing  type  was  Coc- 
ceian, whose  most  distinguished  representative  was 
Lampe. 

These  five  strong  arguments  show  that  the  historical 
position  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Germany  was  not 
Melancthonian,  but  Calvinistic.  Her  history,  her  creeds, 
their  authors,  her  conferences  and  her  universities  unite 


620  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

to  prove  this.  The  number  of  the  arguments,  dove- 
tailing one  into  the  other,  makes  the  testimony  manifold 
stronger.  The  historic  position  of  the  Reformed  Church 
of  Germany  then  is  Calvinism. 

For  these  reasons  we  believe  that  the  Reformed  Church 
of  Germany  was  not  Melancthonian,  but  Calvinistic — that 
is,  Calvinistic  in  the  broad  sense,  as  including  all  the  dif- 
ferent schools  of  Calvinism,  yet  all  holding  God's  sov- 
ereignity as  supreme.  If,  therefore,  our  Reformed  Church 
in  the  United  States  would  be  true  to  the  historic  position 
of  the  Reformed  Church,  she  must  be  Calvinistic.  For  it 
has  been  the  rule  of  Church  history,  that  when  a  Church 
leaves  her  historic  moorings,  she  proves  false  to  her 
founders,  loses  her  right  to  separate  existence  (because  she 
is  not  true  to  the  principles  for  which  she  was  founded), 
and  generally  begins  to  die.  Let  the  Reformed  Church 
in  the  United  States  be  careful  lest  she  leaves  the  old  his- 
toric position  of  the  Reformed  Church. 

Her  Calvinistic  position  is  emphasized  by  her  first  creed. 
The  members  of  the  Reformed  Coetus  of  Pennsylvania, 
when  under  the  care  of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Holland 
for  about  half  a  century,  subscribed  to  five  creeds.*  "All 
ministers,  elders,  deacons  and  schoolmasters  shall,  upon 
entering  on  their  respective  offices,  subscribe  to  the  for- 
mula which  has  been  received  in  the  Palatinate  :  (1)  The 
Heidelberg  Catechism,  (2)  The   Palatinate  Confession  of 

*  Jackson's  Xew  Dictionary  of  Religious  Knowledge. 


AMEEICAJs^    EEFOEMED    CHURCH.  621 

Faith,  (3)  The  Canons  of  Dort,  as  approved  by  the  Palati- 
nate divines,  as  ^yell  as  those  of  other  nations,  (4)  The  post 
acta  of  the  Synod  of  Dort,  (5)  The  Formula  Consensus." 
This  subscription  makes  our  early  Reformed  Church  in 
America  highly  Calvinistic.  For  it  committed  them  not 
only  to  the  Heidelberg  Catechism,  but  also  to  the  Canons 
of  Dort,  as  subscribed  to  by  the  Palatinate  divines.  For  the 
Palatinate  divines  at  the  Synod  of  Dort,  led  by  Scultetus, 
were  supralapsarians.  And  it  not  only  commits  them  to 
the  Canons  of  Dort,  but  also  to  the  Formula  Consensus, 
or  Helvetic  Consensus,  of  Switzerland,  which  was  very 
high  'Calvinistic.  This  early  subscription  makes  our 
Church  high  Calvinistic  for  her  first  half  century,  in  this 
new  world.  It  would  not  have  been  possible,  if  our  early 
ministers  had  been  Melancthoniau,  for  them  to  have 
adopted  such  high  Calvinistic  creeds.  The  Heidelberg 
Catechism,  the  present  creed  of  the  Church,  is  Calvinistic, 
as  this  chapter  proves.  Again,  the  first  published  theology 
of  our  Church  in  America  was  "  The  Doctrines  of  Divine 
Revelation,"  by  Rev.  Samuel  Helffenstein,  D.  D.  This 
dogmatics  is  Calvinistic,  as  he  teaches  both  election  and 
reprobation.*  Dr.  Helffenstein  says  in  his  preface  that 
his  doctrines  were  believed  and  taught  by  those  sent  over 
to  this  country  from  Germany.  Again,  the  early  Re- 
formed ministers  who  came  to  this  country  were  Calvin- 
ists.     }iarbaugh  bears  witness  to  this  in  his  "  Fathers  of 

«-  Pages  161-163. 


622  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

the  Reformed  Church.'^*  There  he  says  Boehm  was 
Calvinistic.  And  he  says  that  the  Reformed  in  the  Unity 
who  sympathized  with  the  Unionistic  views  of  Zinzeudorf, 
and  afterwards  broke  off  from  our  Church,  attacked  those 
who  remained  -in  the  Church  because  of  their  Calvinism. 
Boehm,  Weiss,  Dorstius,  Goetschey  and  others  sympa- 
thized with  Calvinism.  We  do  not  see  that  Schlatter  could 
have  been  anything  but  a  Calvinist,  when  his  Coetus 
adopted  those  five  Calvinistic  creeds  mentioned  before. 
Besides,  Schlatter  came  from  Switzerland,  when  she  was 
still  strongly  Calvinistic,  for  she  was  affected  by  Rational- 
ism later  than  Germany.  Switzerland  was  Calvinistic 
then,  especially  Northeastern  Switzerland.  (Zurich,  Bern 
and  the  adjacent  cantons  remained  Calvinistic  long  after 
Werenfels,  A.  Turretin  and  Osterwald  led  a  reaction  against 
it  in  the  southern  and  western  cantons.)  He  also  studied 
in  Holland  when  she  was  still  Calvinistic,  before  Rational- 
ism came  in.  The  Dutch  Reformed  Church  was  still  so 
Calvinistic  that  she  would  not  have  sent  him  to  America, 
if  he  had  not  been  a  Calvinist.  Of  the  early  Reformed 
ministers,  Rieger,  Hochreutner,  Bartholomseus  and  Stoever 
were  Swiss,  and  that  meant  Calvinistic.  The  six  young 
men  whom  Schlatter  brought  from  Herborn,  were  trained 
as  Calvinists,  for  that  university  was  Cocceian,  as  Cuno 
has  proved. 

«  Vol.  I.,  page  320. 


CONCLUSION.  623 

For  these  reasons  the  Reformed  Church  in  the  United 
States  was  born  in  Calvinism,  nursed  by  Calvinistic  Hol- 
land, and  to  it  she  should  remain  true.  When  she  gives 
up  her  historic  position  (as  agreed  upon  by  the  late  Peace 
Commission  of  the  General  Synod),  she  will  lose  her 
adherence  to  her  fathers,  her  right  to  exist  as  a  separate 
denomination,  and  her  hope  for  the  future.  For  when  a 
denomination  swings  from  her  historic  position,  what  right 
has  she  to  live  ?  If  she  does  not  stand  for  the  principles 
for  which  she  was  born,  what  does  she  stand  for  ?  There- 
fore, she  generally  begins  to  die. 

We  have  told  the  story  of  her  fathers  in  the  Father- 
land. May  her  sons  prove  themselves  worthy  of  such 
ancestors  and  remain  true  to  their  principles.  And  may 
the  great  Head  of  the  Church  keep  them  faithful  to  the 
fathers  and  the  creeds  of  the  Reformed  Church. 


APPENDIX 


I. 

NEANDER'S  HYMN,  "  Himmel,  Erde,  Luft  und  Meer. 

Heaven  and  earth  and  sea  and  air 
All  their  Maker's  praise  declare ; 
Wake,  my  soul,  awake  and  sing, 
Now  thy  grateful  praises  bring. 

See  the  glorious  orb  of  day, 
Breaking  through  the  clouds  his  way  ; 
Moon  and  stars,  with  silver  light, 
Praise  Him  through  the  silent  night. 

See  how  He  hath  everywhere, 
Made  this  earth  so  rich  and  fair ; 
Hill  and  vale,  a  fruitful  land. 
All  things  living  show  His  hand. 

See  how  through  the  boundless  sky, 
Fresh  and  free  the  birds  do  fly  ; 
Fire  and  wind  and  storm  are  still 
Servants  of  His  royal  will. 

See  the  water's  ceaseless  flow. 
Ever  circling  to  and  fro  ; 
From  its  sources  to  the  sea, 
Still  it  rolls  in  praise  to  Thee, 

Lord,  great  wonders  workest  Thou, 
To  Thy  sway  all  creatures  bow  ; 
Write  Thou  deeply  in  my  heart, 
What  I  am,  and  what  Thou  art. 


626  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

II. 

LAMPE'S  HYMN,  "Mein  Leben  ist  ein  PHgerstand.'^ 

M}^  life  is  but  a  pilgrim  stand  (state), 
A  traveler  to  my  fatherland, 
I  seek  the  city  with  foundation, 
Whose  Builder,  Maker  is  my  God ; 
And  gaining  there  my  blest  abode, 
Would  ever  sing  His  great  salvation. 
My  life  is  here  a  pilgrim  stand, 
I'm  traveling  to  my  fatherland. 

The  hours  of  life's  uucertain  day 
Haste  on  without  a  moment's  stay  ; 
And  when  once  gone,  are  gone  forever, 
They  bear  me  to  eternity. 
Lord  Jesus,  give  me  eyes  to  see, 
What'er  I  need  to  know,  discover ; 
Nor  let  earth's  vain  delusions  hide 
Thee  from  my  sight,  my  only  guide. 

No  journey  is  without  its  cares. 
Life's  journey,  too,  my  spirit  wears; 
It  is  not  all  a  bed  of  roses. 
The  road  is  narrow,  foes  are  strong, 
And  oft  entice  me  to  the  wrong. 
The  tangled  thorn  my  way  opposes. 
O'er  trackless  wilds  I'm  forced  to  go, 
And  groping,  toil  my  passage  through. 

At  times  to  me  the  sun  is  bright. 
That  sun  outsheds  its  glorious  light 
Alone  to  bless  the  pure  in  spirit ; 
Then  comes  the  raging,  roaring  storm, 
So  loud,  terrific  its  alarm. 
So  dark,  I  can  not  help  but  fear. 
But  when  I  think  of  joys  above, 
My  terror  yields  its  place  to  love. 

Thou  Jesus,  once  a  pilgrim  too. 
Wilt  prove  Thyself  a  Helper  true  ; 
Of  all  my  anxious  cries  a  hearer. 
Thy  warning  word  in  mind  I'll  keep, 


APPENDIX.  627 

And  by  Thy  guidance  every  step 
Shall  bring  me  to  salvation  nearer. 
My  life  and  strength  are  waning  fast, 
Lord,  with  Thy  consolations  haste. 

That  I  may  grow  in  holiness. 
With  stronger  faith  my  spirit  bless. 
And  thus  of  stumbling  make  me  heedful ; 
I  daily  fall,  help  me  to  rise. 
And  by  each  fall  yet  more  to  prize 
Thy  helping  hand,  so  often  needful. 
While  in  this  darkened  soul  of  mine, 
Thy  beams  of  mercy  brighter  shine. 

And  while  my  heart,  O  God  of  Grace, 
Shall  faint  with  longing  for  Thy  face  ; 
Prepare  my  will  for  Thy  fruition. 
Whene'er  to  earth  my  eyelids  close. 
May  I  with  Thee  enjoy  repose. 
Where  sin  and  grief  find  no  admission ; 
Thy  weary  child  bid  thither  come, 
To  live  with  Thee,  a  blissful  home. 

My  lot  is  here  with  strangers  thrown. 

And  by  the  world  I'm  little  known ; 

But  there  friends  wait  with  joy  to  meet  me, 

And  there  with  those  I  love  the  most, 

I'll  join  in  song  the  angel  host, 

Whose  glories  with  their  welcome  greet  me. 

My  Savior  come,  no  more  delay. 

And  thither  bear  my  soul  away. 

—  Translated  by  Dr.  H.  Mills. 


628  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

III. 

TERSTEEGEN'S    HYMNS. 
"Kommt,  Kinder,  Lasst  uns  gehen." 

{It  is  translated  thus:) 

Come,  children,  let  us  onward, 

Night  comes  without  delay, 

And  in  the  howling  desert 

It  isn't  good  to  stay. 

We  are  hasting  on  to  heaven. 

Strength  for  warfare  will  be  given, 

And  glory  won  e'er  long. 

The  pilgrim's  path  of  toil 

We  do  not  fear  to  view. 

We  know  His  voice  who  calls  us. 

The  faithful  one  and  true. 

Then  let  us  well  contemn, 

But  strong  in  His  almighty  grace. 

Come  every  one  with  steadfast  grace 

On  to  Jerusalem. 

If  we  would  walk  as  pilgrims, 
We  must  not  riches  keep ; 
Much  treasure  to  have  gathered 
But  makes  the  way  more  steep. 
We  march  with  laggard  speed 
Till  every  weight  is  cast  aside, 
Till  with  the  little  satisfied, 
That  pilgrimage  can  need. 

Here  all  unknown  we  wander. 
Despised  on  every  hand  ; 
Unnoticed,  save  when  slighted, 
As  strangers  in  the  land. 
Our  joys  we  will  not  share, 
Yet  sing,  that  we  may  catch  the  song. 
Of  heaven  and  the  happy  throng 
That  now  awaits  us  there. 


APPENDIX.  Q29' 

Come,  gladly  let  us  onward 
Hand  in  hand  still  go, 
Each  helping  one  another 
Through  all  the  way  below. 
One  family  of  love, 
O  let  not  voice  of  strife  be  heard, 
No  discord  by  the  angel  guard 
Who  watch  us  from  above. 

Soon,  brothers,  shall  be  ended 

The  journey  we've  begun  ; 

Endure  a  little  longer. 

The  race  will  soon  be  run. 

And  in  the  sight  of  rest, 

In  yonder  bright,  eternal  home. 

Where  all  the  Father's  loved  ones  come. 

We  shall  be  safe  and  blest. 

Then  boldly  let  us  venture  ; 
This,  this  is  worth  the  cost, 
Though  dangers  we  encounter 
Though  everything  be  lost. 
O  world,  how  vain  thy  call ! 
We  follow  Him  who  went  before. 

— Translated  by  Mrs.  Findlater. 


"  Siegesfuerst  und  Ehrenkoenig" 

Is  thus  translated  : 

Conquering  Prince  and  Lord  of  Glory, 
Majesty  enthroned  in  light ! 
All  the  heavens  are  small  before  Thee, 
Far  beyond  them  spreads  Thy  might. 
Shall  I  not  fall  at  Thy  feet. 
And  my  heart  with  rapture  beat ; 
Now  Thy  glory  is  displayed. 
Thine  ere  yet  the  worlds  were  made. 

Far  and  wide.  Thou  heavenly  Sun, 
Now  Thy  brightness  streams  abroad. 
And  heaven's  host  anew  have  won 
Light  and  gladness  from  its  Lord. 


630  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY 

Mark  how  yon  unnumbered  throng 
Welcome  Thee  with  joyous  song. 
See  Thy  children,  weak  and  few, 
Here  would  cry  Hosannas,  too. 

Of  Thy  cup  shall  I  not  drink  ? 
Now  Thy  glories  o'er  me  shine, 
Shall  my  courage  ever  sink  ? 
Now  I  know  all  power  is  Thine, 
I  will  trust  Thee,  O  my  King ! 
And  will  fear  no  earthly  thing. 
Henceforth  wil   I  bow  the  knee 
To  no  ruler,  save  to  Thee. 

Power  and  Spirit  now  o'erflow, 
On  me  also  be  they  poured 
Till  Thy  last  and  mightiest  foe 
Hath  been  made  Thy  footstool,  Lord. 
Yea,  let  earth's  remotest  end 
To  Thy  righteous  sceptre  bend. 
Make  Thy  way  before  Thee  plain, 
O'er  all  hearts  and  spirits  reign. 

Lo,  Thy  presence  filleth  now 
All  Thy  Church  in  every  place. 
To  my  heart,  Oh,  enter  Thou ; 
See  it  thirsteth  for  Thy  grace  ; 
Come,  Thou  King  of  Glory,  come. 
Deign  to  make  my  heart  Thy  home  ; 
There  abide  and  rule  alone, 
As  upon  Thy  heavenly  throne. 

Parting  dost  Thou  bring  Thy  life 
God  and  heaven  most  inly  near ; 
Let  me  rise  o'er  earthly  strife. 
As  though  still  I  saw  Thee  near  ; 
And  my  heart  transplanted  hence, 
Strange  to  earth,  and  time,  and  sense. 
Dwell  with  Thee  in  heaven  e'en  now. 
Where  our  only  joy  art  Thou. 


APPEJs^DIX.  631 

"Brunn  alles  Heils,  Dich  ehren  wir." 

A  beautiful  moruing  hymn: 

Thee,  Fount  of  Blessing,  we  adore ! 
Lo,  we  unlock  our  lips,  before 
Thy  Godhead's  deep  of  holiness  ; 
O  deign  to  hear  us  now  aud  bless. 

The  Lord,  the  Maker,  with  us  dwell. 
In  soul  and  body  shield  us  well, 
And  guard  us  with  His  sleepless  might. 
From  every  ill  by  day  and  night. 

The  Lord,  the  Savior,  Light  Divine, 
Now  cause  His  face  on  us  to  shine, 
That  seeing:  Him  with  perfect  faith, 
We  trust  His  love  for  life  aud  death ! 

The  Lord,  the  Comforter,  be  near, 
Imprint  His  image  deeply  here ; 
From  bonds  of  sin  and  dread  release, 
And  give  us  His  unchanging  peace ! 

O  Triune  God,  Thou  vast  abyss. 

Thou  everflowing  fount  of  bliss  ! 

Flow  through  us,  heart  and  soul  and  will, 

With  endless  praise  and  blessing  fill. 

—  Translated  by  Miss  Winkworth. 


Other  beautiful  hymns,  which  are  translations  of  Ter- 
steegen's,  are  found  in  many  hymn  books,  as : 
"  God  calling,  yet  shall  I  not  hear." 
"  O  Thou,  to  whose  all-searching  sight." 
^'  Thou  hidden  love  of  God,  whose  light." 
"  How  sweet  it  is  w4ien  wean'd  from  all." 
"  The  heart  of  man  must  somothino:  love." 


632  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

"  The  cross  is  ever  good/' 

"  My  great  High  Priest  art  Thoii." 

It  is  a  great  pity  that  the  new  Hymnal  of  the  Re- 
formed Church  of  the  United  States  has  so  few  hymns  by 
Reformed  authors.  It  has  been  criticized  by  one  of  the 
ablest  hymn  critics  in  America  as  not  being  Reformed, 
because  it  does  not  do  honor  to  the  hymn  writers  of  its 
own  Church.  

IV. 
REFORMED  CHURCH  ORDERS  AGAINST  ALTARS.   ' 

Church  Order  of  Count  John  of  Dillenburg  (1581) : 
"  Since  we  ourselves  intended  to  come  to  Siegen  in  order 
to  remove  certain  things  from  the  churches  which  are 
retained  from  the  papacy,  but  not  approved  of  in  God's 
Word,  and,  therefore,  necessarily  to  be  corrected,  especially 
idols,  tablets,  organs,  altars,  golden  cups,  wafers,  small  or 
large." — (7imo,  Count  of  DiUenhurg,  imge  119-120. 

Church  Order  of  Tecklenburg  (1588) :  "As  in  the 
churches  of  our  country  the  altars,  golden  cups  and  wafers 
are  still  in  existence  and  use,  the  preacher  shall  endeavor 
to  remove  them." — Bichter,  Kirchenordnung,  Vol.  II., 
page  4.7. 

Bremen  Church  Order  (1595)  :  "And  as  we  Christians 
in  the  New  Testament  cannot  speak  of  either  altars  or  sac- 
rifices, it  is  right  that  altars  be  removed  and  in  their  places 
tables  covered  with  a  cloth  be  placed  in  the  churches  and 


APPENDIX.  633 

used  for  the  communion." — Herzog^s  Encyclopcedia,    Vol. 
I.J  jjcige  312. 

General  Synod  of  Julich,  Cleve,  Berg  and  Mark  (1610)  : 
^'  The  government  shall  be  requested  to  remove  all  pictures, 
altars  and  other  idolatrous  relics.'' — Heppe,  Evangelical 
Church  of  Cleve  and  Mark,  page  172. 

The  four  main  historians  of  the  different  Reformed 
Churches  of  Germany  are  Haasser  of  the  Palatinate 
Church,  Goebel  of  the  Rhenish  Church,  Heppe  of  the 
Hessian  Church,  and  Hering  of  the  Brandenburg  Church. 

Hausser  says  :  ^'  Out  of  all  the  churches,  and  from  all 
the  highways,  altars,  crucifixes,  etc.,  were  removed  as  the 
work  of  idols,  and  the  gowns  and  robes  were  distributed 
among  the  poor.'' — History  of  the  Rhine  Pcdatinate,  Vol. 
II.,  page  31. 

Goebel  says  :  "  Baptisms  and  weddings  in  an  empty 
church,  as  in  a  holy  place,*  without  the  presence  of  the 
congregation,  could  not  or  cannot  take  place,  according  to 
the  Reformed  view,  which  does  not  know  of  or  want  an 
altar  or  outward  sanctuary." 

Heppe  has  been  quoted  above. 

Hering  says  :  "  The  mayor  of  the  Mark,  in  the  name 
of  the  Elector,  ordered  that  crucifixes,  pictures  and  both 
cdtars  be  entirely  taken  away,  and  on  the  contrary  a  table 
placed  in  the  choir." — Beginning  of  the  Reformed  Church 
in  Brandenburg,  Vol.  I.,  p)age  281. 
41 


634  THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

The  two  following  theses  were  unanimously  adopted 
by  the  large  fifth  conference  of  Keformed  pastors  and 
assistants  held  at  Detmold,  June  20,  1867  : 

"  The  Biblical  and  Reformed  communion  table  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  Roman  altar. ^^ 

^^ Altar ^  pictures,  crucifixes,  lights  and  other  ornaments 
destroy  the  sublime  simplicity  of  the  Lord,  who  works 
with  the  least  visible  means/' 

Herzog  says  :  "According  to  the  Reformed  view,  there 
is  no  room  for  an  altar  in  the  Christian  worship.  For  an 
altar  presupposes  a  visible  material  sacrifice  that  is  offered 
on  it,  but  the  New  Testament  knows .  nothing  of  such  a 
sacrifice.'^ — Encyclopaedia^  Vol.  J.,  page  312, 


INDEX  OF  NAMES,  PLACES,  &c. 


A 

Abeo:g,  443,  537,  540. 

Achelis,  432,  572,  note. 

Achenbach,  249,  252,  280,  283. 

Adam,  Count  of  Schwarzenburg,  117,  122,  146. 

Alardin,  368,  408. 

Albertz,  423. 

Alexander  Church,  Zweibriicken,  60,  263-267,  269. 

Alliance,  Reformed,  581. 

Alsace  and  Lorraine,  570. 

Alsted,  615. 

Altars,  23,  586-7,  632-4. 

Alting,  4,  38,  46,  141,  612,  618. 

Amalie,  Landgravine  of  Hesse-Cassel,  108-114,  125,  132. 

Amvraut.     See  Saumur. 

Ancillon;  175,  178,  212. 

Anhalt,  11,  24,  31,  417,  508,  517,  576,  578. 

Arnoldi,  408,  439,  440,  615,  616. 

B 

Bachman,  59,  64. 

Baireuth,  18,  199-203. 

Barbeyrac,  419. 

Barmen,  65,  454,  455. 

Bavaria,  31,  43,  46,  52,  569. 

Beausobre,  212,  418,  522,  617. 

Bengel,  308,  527. 

Bentheim,  271-275. 

Bethlen  Gabor,  17,  25. 

Bergius,  137,  163,  188,  327,  432,  441,  560,  573,  609,  617 


636  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

Berlin,  116  (note),  120-122,  145,  148-9,  164,  181-2,357, 

493,  566,  572,  581. 
Bernard  of  Weimar,  101,  102,  108. 
Beuthen,  23,  28. 
Boehl,  557-559. 
Boehm,  622. 
Boehme,  432,  448. 
Bohemia,  16-30. 

Brandenburg,  115-126,  135-137, 144-193. 
Brandes,  571,  581. 
Brazil,  86. 
Bremen,  325,  344,  352,  379,  383,  431,  434,  502,  508-9, 

570,  618. 
Breslau,  24,  27,  28,  575. 
Brieg,  Count  of,  23. 
Bucer,  403,  560. 
Buchfelder,  368,  408. 
Bula,  557. 

Bund,  Reformirte,  581. 
Bunsen,  469,  541. 
Butenbach,  514. 
Buttighausen,  618. 

Calaminus,  581. 

Calvin,  201,  312,  366,  408,  496,  504,  590. 

Calvin's  Catechism,  219. 

Calvinists  and  Calvinism,  11,  23,  319,  390,  600-2,  613. 

Camerarius,  1$. 

Candidus,  61. 

'Cannstadt-Stuttgart,  209. 

Cartesian.     See  Descartes. 

Cassel,  96-97,  140,  195,  216,  224,  610. 

Cassel,  Conference,  143. 

Catechization,  329,  396. 

Catharine  Belgica,  Countess  of  Hanau,  90,  108. 

Cellarius,  56. 

Charenton,  174,  181,  201. 


INDEX    OF    NAMES,    PLACES,    &C.  637 

Charles,  Elector  of  Palatinate,  236-39. 

Charles,  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel,  194,  342,  414,  416, 

577. 
Charles  Lewis,  Elector  of  Palatinate,  48,   53,   131,  139, 

225-9,  232,  255. 
Charles  Phillip,  Count  of  Hesse  Homburg,  285-296. 
Charles  Theodore,  Elector  of  Palatinate,  297-303. 
Chevalier,  457. 

Christian,  Duke  of  Anhalt,  11,  24,  31. 
Christian  Ernst,  Margrave  of  Brandenburg-Baireuth,  199. 
Classes,  237,  292,  301,  571. 
Clauberg,  136,  440,  616. 
Clans,  142. 
Cocceian.or  Federal  Theology,  136,  314,    319-320,    378, 

ooo 

Coetus,  569,  622-3. 

Coligny,  156,  223. 

Confirmation,  400. 

Consistory  of  Palatinate,  238,  -280,  298. 

Conventicles,  see  Prayes  Meetings. 

Copper,  338-9,  378. 

Crell,  191. 

Crocius,  J.,  96,  137,  138,  142,  143,  561,  612,  615,618. 

Crollius,  46. 

Court,  481. 

Cuno,  138. 

Curtius,  561. 

D 
Dalton,  312. 
Dathenus,  403. 

Daub,  304,  439,  444,  514,  530-2,  537-8,  541. 
D'Aubigne,  513,  582. 
DeFleur,  190. 

DeHase,  331,  347,  353,  355,  377,  382,  385,  619. 
DeMarees,  517. 
DeRuvter,  147. 
Descartes,  136,  230,  315,  316. 


638  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OF   GERMANY. 

Detmold,  375,  580. 

DeWette,  305,  537. 

Dietrich,  456. 

Dieterici,  366. 

Dillenburg,  83,  89,  342-3. 

Dilsberg,  35,  49. 

Dorothea,  Electress  of  Brandenburg,  149,  154. 

Dorothea  Sibylla,  Duchess  of  Brieg,  24. 

Dort,  141,  597,  614,  615. 

Duisburg,  135-6,  324,  367,  378,  432,  440,  471,  506,  526, 

616. 
DuQuesne,  221,  523. 
Durer,  202. 
Durmenz,  205. 
Dury,  140,  561. 
Diising,  372. 
Dusseldorf,  70,  74,  348. 

E 

East  Friesland,  106,  402,  569. 

Ebrard,  309,  314,  409,  428,  458,  469,  531,  536,  549,  612. 

Edict  of  Eestitution,  10,  13,  43,  56,  82,  100,  118. 

%lin,  615. 

Elberfeld,  65,  69,  407,  478,  489,  492,  573,  580,  581. 

Elizabeth,  Electress  of  Palatinate,  18,  20,  21,  26,  27,  44, 

54,  146,  230. 
Elizabeth,  Princess  of  Palatinate,  230-5,  338. 
Emden,  28,  312,  368,  580. 
Endeman,  439,  440,  615. 
Erlangen,  199-203,  219  (note),  409,  526,  572. 
Erman,  220,  522. 
Evertsen,  455. 
Eylert,  506,  562. 

F 

Fabricius,  133,  257-60,  278,  280,  618. 
Federal  School.     See  Cocceians. 
Francke,  119. 


INDEX    OF    NAMES,    PLACES,    &C.  639 

Frankenthal,  34,  39,  50,  245,  272. 

Frankford  on  the  Main,  46,  260,  324,  341,  347. 

Frankford  on  the  Oder,  116  (note),  118,   128,   136,  441, 

616. 
Frederick  II.,  Landgrave  of  Hesse  Hombiirg,  197. 
Frederick  III.  of  Palatinate,  238,  453,  608. 
Frederick  V.  of  Palatinate  (King  of  Bohemia),  11, 16-28, 

30-32,  35,  36,  46-48,  50,  55,  129. 
Frederick  II.  of  Prussia  (Frederick  the  Great),  146,  182, 

414-415,  453,  464,  520. 
Frederick  I.  of  Prussia,  177,  216,  578. 
Frederick  William  of  Brandenburg,  122,  145,  173-4. 
Free  Prayer,  400. 
Friederichsdorf,  197. 
French  Refugees.     See  Huguenots. 
Funcke,  570. 

G 
Geibel,  513-516. 
General  Synod  of  Julich,  Cleve,  Berg  and  Mark,  215,  333^ 

342,  356,  363,  389,  397-8,  401,  404,  418,436. 
George  William,  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  28,   115-121, 

135. 
Gerhardt,  Paul,  150-153,  561. 
Germersheim,  261-262,  284. 
Gertrude,  Countess  of  Bentheim,  271-5. 
Gillet,  575-576. 
Gcebel,  138,  308,  313,  314,  335,  339,  366,  375,  387,  400, 

450,  458,  478,  567,  582,  619. 
Goudimal,  403. 
Grimm,  428,  433,  441. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  10-11,  14,  32,  44,  46-7,  57,  84, 100, 

118,  128. 

H 
Hadamar,  78,  100. 
Hagenbach,  469. 

Halle,  188-193,  219  (note),  370,  413,  415,  534,  573,  581. 
Hanau,  90,  103-6,  569. 


640         THE    REFORMED    CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

Hanover,  218,  582. 

Harbaugh,  621. 

Hasenkamp,  432,  462,  411-2,  473. 

Heddeus,  302,  304,  618. 

Hedwig  Sophia,  Landgravine  of  Hesse-Cassel,  325,  365. 

Hegel,  531,  537. 

Heidegger,  258-259,  619. 

Heidelberg,  19,  35,  37,  40,  50,  126,  132,  241,  245,  255- 

287,  618. 
Heidelberg  Catechism,  131,  139,  219,  341,  408,  595-6. 
Hein,  561,  615. 
Helifenstein,  621. 
Hengstenberg,  562. 
Henry,  524. 
Heppe,  143,  314,  400,  440,  458,   536,   554-6,   577,  591, 

616. 
Herborn,  82-83,  128,  134,  341,  408,  568,  613,  615,  616. 
Herford,  232,  326,  338,  364. 
Hering,  148. 

Hersfeld,  94,  101-5,  373. 
Herzoff,  547,  note. 

Holy  Ghost  Church  at  Heidelberg,  41,  46,  133,  442,  530. 
Horch,  320,  340-343. 
Hornbach,  56-57,  61. 

Hottinger,  133,  139,  232,  370-372,  382,  408,  615,  618. 
Huguenots,  173-224,  520,  617. 
Hundius,  72. 
Hungarians,  147. 
Hymns  and  Hymn  Books,  356,  403. 


I 


Iken,  308,  352,  355,  405. 
Infralapsarianism,  141,  557. 
Men,  85-88,  89. 
Isenburg,  218,  336,  369. 


INDEX    OF    NAMES,    PLACES,    &C.  641 

J 

Jablonski,  382,  561. 

James  I.,  King  of  England,  18,  25,  39-40. 

Jesuits,  40,  241,  226,  303. 

John  Albert,  Duke  of  Mecklenburg,  11,  118. 

John  Maurice,  Count  of  Nassau-Siegen,  85-88,  134,  136. 

Jolin  William,  Elector  of  Palatinate,  276-84. 

Jorissen,  473-6. 

Juliane,  Electress  of  Palatinate,  19,  34,  125. 

Junius,  618. 

K 
Kahnis,  535,  552. 
Kant,  410,  412,  434,  439,  530. 
Kerlin,  458,  459. 
Kirchenzeitung,  578. 

Kirchmeyer,  283,  287,  372,  428,  440.  469,  577,  615. 
Koch,  232,  316-18,  324,  377,  380,  392. 
Kohlbriigge,  495-8,  536,  557,  574. 
Konigsberg,  116  (note),  125,  163,  373. 
Kraflf\,  433,  463,  526-9,  549. 
Krauss,  572. 

Krummacher,  F.  A.,  441,  504,  506-8. 
Krummacher,  F.  W.,  310,  463,  491^4,  512,  544-5. 
Krummacher,  G.  D.,  446,  456,  486,  497. 


Labadie,  232,  313,  323,  326,  464. 

Lampe,  357,  374-394,  395,  406,  408,  457,  463,  619. 

Lange,  J.  P.,  469,  535,  536. 

Langhanns,  237,  241. 

Lasco,  312,  367,  395,  408,  569,  605-6,  613-14. 

Leipsic  Conference,  120,  143. 

Lenfant,  212. 

Leopold,  Duke  of  Anhalt  Dessau,  417, 

Lingen,  471,  506,  580,  619. 

Lippe,  375-6,  517,  570. 

42 


642  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH    OF    GERMANY. 

Lise-Lotte,  226-29. 

Lobwasser,  403,  474. 

Lodenstein,  313,  323,  324,  368,  376,  406. 

Louis  XIV.,  174,  177,  198,  224,  226,  228,  240,  244,  246, 

256,  262. 
Louisa  Henrietta,  Electress  of  Brandenburg,  52, 156-167, 

403. 
Lower  Saxon  Confederation,  570. 
Lunenschloss,  69-72. 

M 

Magdeburg,  183-7. 

Mallet,  434,  446,  504,  509. 

Manheim,  38,  50,  52.  139,  186,  245,  249,  253,  292. 

Marburg,  96,  102,  128,  137  (note),   142,   216,  414,  438, 

569,  577,  614. 
Martinius,  658. 
Martyr,  401. 
Maurice,  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel,  11,  18,  93-8,  99, 

577. 
Maurice,  Prince  of  Orange,  18,  85,  89,  109. 
Max,  Joseph,  Elector  of  Palatinate,  304. 
Mel,  372,  406. 
Melancthon,  590,  599,  613. 
Melancthonianism,  589-623. 
Melander,  102,  109-13,  134. 
Melchior,  350,  442,  616. 
Menken,  378,  431-35,  446,  503,  513. 
Meurs,  333,  338,  447,  491. 
Meyenrock,  511. 

Mieg,  258,  283,  287,  382,  438,  443,  517,  615. 
Missions,  405,  527. 
Mixed  Marriages,  279,  287. 
Monheim,  348. 
Moravians,  11,  460. 
Muhlenberg,  405,  408. 
Muhlheim  on  the  Ruhr,  324,  338,  367,  369,  448-62. 


INDEX    OF    NAMES,    PLACES,    &C.  643 

Muller,  440,  559  (note). 
Muuscher  142,  428,  439. 
Miirsinna,  428. 

N 

Nassau,  76-92,  134,  578. 

Naude,  414,  522,  617. 

Neander,  Joachim,  344-62,  392,  404. 

Neauder,  John  Augustus,  340,  537,  541. 

Nethenus,  320,  333. 

Neuberger,  101,  137,  561,  615. 

Nevin,  410,  548,  553. 

Niesener,  80-1. 

Nitzsch,  537,  547. 

Noltenius,  370,  441. 

Nuremberg,  201. 

O'Bearn,  522. 

Olevianus,  395,  496,  568,  605,  607,  615,  618. 
Oppenheim,  44,  50,  130,  294. 
Oranienburg,  160,  168. 

P 

Palatinate,  Lower,  11,  33,  127,  131,  134,  223-301. 

Pantheism,  412,  531,  533,  537. 

Papers,  Reformed,  582,  note. 

Parens,  36,  618. 

Panli,  422,  523. 

Pelargus,  119,  129. 

Penn,  233-5. 

Persecution,  13,  29,  43,  173-306. 

Pfalz  Neuburg,  65,  348,  352. 

Pfalz  Neuburg,  Ducliess  Catliarino  Charlotte  of,  71. 

Phillip  William,  Elector  of  Palatinate,  240-3. 

Pietism,  307-410. 

Piscator,  80  (note),  105,  615. 

Prague,  20,  25,  26-29,  30. 

Prague,  Peace  of,  12,  14,  99. 


644         THE    REFORMED   CMURCH    OF   GERMANY. 

Prayer  Meetings  (Prophesyings),  311,  324,  327,  349,365, 

379,  448,  453-8,  499,  501,  515. 
PrcdcstiDation,  600,  612. 
Prosbyterium,  329,  349,  457. 
Prussia,  Synod  of  East  and  West,  565,  580. 
Psalms,  348,  404. 

R 

Ramsey,  90-1,  103,  106. 

Rationalism,  413-559,  584-5. 

Reformed  Church  of  the  United  States,  620-3. 

Reich,  190  (note),  242. 

Religious  Liberty,  10,  121,  131. 

Reprisals,  Protestant,  281,  291. 

Ritschl,  314,  321. 

Robert,  428,  439. 

Rusdorf,  49,  52. 

Rothe,  535-6,  538,  540-2. 


Sack,  419-21,  430,  472,  617. 

Sandrart,  202. 

Saumur,  139,  182,  414. 

Saxony,  Synod  of  Province  of,  570. 

Schaif,  469,  492,  494,  504,  547,  591-4. 

Schaumburg,  111,  218. 

Schenkel,  444,  542  (note). 

Schlatter,  407,  622. 

Schleiermacher,  190,  514,  523,  530,  532,  537,   539,  541, 

562. 
Schluter,  326,  363-4. 
Schomberg,  148,  178,221. 
Schramm,  408,  616. 

Scultetus,  18,  20,  23,  24,  25,  28,  141,  618. 
Sieffert,  572. 

Siegen,  77,  85-8,  477,  482. 
Silesia,  23,  359,  565,  566  (note),  574-6. 


INDEX    OF    NAMES,    PLACES,    &C.  645 

Simony,  300. 

Simultaneous  Worship,  277,  290,  294. 

Snethlage,  506. 

Spener,  308,  310,  314,  324,  349,  354,  369,  391,  401. 

Spinola,  33,  55,  94. 

Spinoza,  134,  442. 

Spires,  42,  245,  250,  256. 

Stahlschmidt,  482. 

Statistics,  Reformed,  588. 

Stein,  202,  614. 

Stilling,  307,  434,  446,  477-81. 

Stosch,  165,  428,  441,  561. 

Strauss,  531,  532,  539,  545,  559. 

Strimesius,  561. 

Stursburg,  469. 

Switzerland,  15,  53,  622. 

Synod,  201,  215,  218,  237-8,  296,  303,  363,  571. 


Tecklenburg,  486,  506. 

Tersteegen,  357,  392,  446,  447-70. 

Thelemau,  375,  580. 

Theremim,  562. 

Tilly,  26,  35,  37,  39,  40,  76,  94,  95,  100,  118. 

Tollin,  210,  583,  618. 

Tossanus,  133,  366. 

Treviranus,  502-5. 

Turenne,  229,  263. 

Turretin,  382. 

U 

Ullman,  444,  535-9,  548. 

Union,  560-85. 

Untereyck,  323-32,  340,  344,  348,  350-4,  373,  379,  395. 

Ursinus,  395,  605-7,  618. 

Ursula,  Countess  of  Hadamar,  80-1. 

Usteri,  559,  note. 


646  THE   REFORMED   CHURCH   OP   GERMANY. 


Versailles,  224,  227,  246. 
Yilmar,  440,  554,  576-7. 
Voet,  313,  320,  323,  334,  368. 
Voltaire,  415,  417,  547. 
Von  Achenbach,  583. 
Von  Schweriu,  167. 

W 
Walaus,  S6. 
Waldenses,  204-8. 
Weinheim,  277,  283. 
Weiss,  296. 
Wendelin,  141,  612. 

Wesel,  66,  130,  158,  312,  314  (note),  473. 
Westphalia,  Peace  of,  12,  53,  123,  127-39. 
Weyberg,  484. 
Wied,  11. 

William  V.,  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel,  99-107. 
William  I.,  King  of  Germany,  223. 
WolflP,  412-15,  439. 
Wundt,  302,  304,  618. 
Wnnster,  575. 
Wyttenbach,  438,  440,  615. 

Z 

Zahn,  557. 
Zanchius,  612,  618. 
Zeller,  375-8. 
Zerbst,  141,  147. 
Zinzendorf,  459,  532,  622. 
Zollikofer,  193,  429-30,  561. 
Zweibrlicken,  18,  41,  55-64,  263-70. 
Zwingli,  311,  408,  460,  580,  613. 


ERRATA. 


Page  15,  line  5,  1638  should  be  1635. 

Page  35,  line  13,  Dillsberg  should  be  Dilsberg. 

Page  65,  line  3,  Cleve  should  be  Berg. 

Page  79,  line  3,  and  page  81,  last  line,   Hadamer  sliould 

be  Hadamar. 
Page  83,  line  2,  and  page  91,  line  15,  Dillenberg  should 

be  Dillenburg. 
Page  151,  line  22,  Reinhar  should  be  Reinhard. 
Page  180,  note,  Konigsburg  should  be  Konigsberg,  and 

Ukernark  should  be  Ukermark. 
Page  190,  note,  Reith  should  be  Reich. 
Page  307,  line  7,  Yung  should  be  Jung. 
Page  320,  line  19,  Nethenus  should  be  Copper. 
Page  408,  line  18,  Buchwalder  should  read  Buchfelder. 
Page  413,  Wolf  should  read  Wolff. 
Page  486,  line  6,  Tecklenberg  should  read  Tecklenburg. 
Page  587,  line  11,  Calminus  should  be  Calaminus. 
Page  606,  line  22,  Morian  should  read  Monau. 
Page  612,  line  17,  Coceius  should  be  Cocceius. 
Page  613,  lines   24  and   25   should   read,   "Rather  than 

Melancthon's,  yes  Zwingli  held  it  too  before  either 

of  them.'' 

Note. — The  author  wishes  to  state  that  these  errata  are   necessary    mainly 
owing  to  his  difhculty  with  German  proper  names. 


.4 

I 


